Although the Beatles officially stopped making music together in the 1970s, their popularity remains intact, so much so that their ‘last single’, released just days ago, topped the US charts. The single ” Now and then » has actually climbed to the top spot on the Digital Song Sales Chart, the weekly ranking of the best-selling titles in the United States. This ranking differs from the Hot 100, which includes other forms of consumption, such as streams and radio broadcasts.
The title topped the digital song sales chart with 16,000 copies sold, according to Luminate. While not impressive, this number is enough for The Beatles to top the charts in an otherwise quiet context for single sales in the United States.
What’s most impressive about the immediate success of “Now and Then” is how quickly the song racked up enough purchases to top the US charts. The Beatles released the song on Thursday, November 2, the last day of the reporting period. The song sold well enough in less than a day to reach the top spot, while most songs need a full week to accumulate enough purchases to have a chance at the higher levels of the chart.
“Now and Then” was the first Beatles hit to reach number 1 on the Digital Songs chart. In fact, this is also the group’s first top 10 in this ranking. The Beatles released all their music (except for this last track) decades before the introduction of the chart, which was only created by Billboard after the popularization of platforms such as Amazon and iTunes.
Prior to the release of “Now and Then,” The Beatles had never climbed above No. 26 on the digital singles chart. The group’s smash hit “Let It Be” reached this spot in 2010. At the time, the hit had been decades in the making, but the Beatles managed to climb up the rankings from time to time, on the occasion of special events. To date, 12 Beatles songs have made the chart, including the song “Now and Then.”
