Since the 1960s, the Beatles have been shaking up popular music and making waves. It looks like they are not done yet. On Friday, November 10, 2023, a “new” song, entitled “Now and Then,” was released. It has already hit No. 1 in the United Kingdom and is breaking all kinds of records.
This is even more amazing when you consider the fact that two of the four band members are dead. Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney are the two surviving members of the Beatles. There is a gap of 54 years between their No. 1 hits.
“Now and Then” started out as a piano demo, first written by John Lennon in 1977, but was left unfinished. After John’s death in 1980, the rest of the band considered the song for their 1995 project, The Beatles Anthology, but ultimately went another way. Paul and Ringo completed the song using recordings from that 1995 session. They added additional guitar tracks by George Harrison, who died in 2001, and added John’s voice using artificial intelligence technology.
“Now and Then” is the fastest selling single of 2023. It has the most physical sales in almost a decade with 38,000 sold. Individual band members Ringo and Paul are the second and third oldest chart-topping artists behind Captain Sir Tom Moore.
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It is impossible to not be impressed by the Beatles’ legacy. Martin Talbot, CEO of the Official Charts Company, agrees. “If there were ever any doubts that the Beatles are the greatest band of all time, they have surely consigned them to history this week,” he mused.
