The Beatles Album That Holds the Guinness World Record for Fastest-Selling Album
The Beatles are known for shattering records with several albums and hit songs that dominated the charts and sales. One of their albums holds the record for the fastest-selling album. However, this album wouldn’t debut until years after the band already disbanded.
‘1’ is a compilation of The Beatles’ greatest hits
1 debuted in 2000 and is a compilation album of all of The Beatles’ number one hits. The album debuted 30 years after the band broke up but was still able to capitalize on the band’s everlasting popularity. 1 is a massive catalog of Beatles’ hits, consisting of 27 songs, including “Let it Be,” “Hey Jude,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Eight Days a Week,” “Yellow Submarine,” “All You Need Is Love,” and “Yesterday.”
The album was remixed and re-released in 2011 and had deluxe editions released in 2015 by Apple Records. Following the success of 1, many others capitalized on it by releasing compilation albums for other artists, including Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, The Who, and The Rolling Stones.
‘1’ holds the record for fastest-selling album
The Beatles 1 found success faster than any album ever. According to the Guinness World Records, 1 debuted on Nov. 13, 2000, and sold a record 13.5 million copies worldwide in its first month. 3.6 million copies were sold on its first day alone. Its success would last past the first month as it became the highest-selling album of 2000 and of the 2000s decade.
It’s unknown how many copies of 1 have been sold today, but Apple Corps announced in 2009 that 1 had surpassed 31 million copies sold. The album dominated the charts in the US and the UK. In the UK, the album peaked at number one on the official charts and remained on the chart for 390 weeks. It remained at number one for nine weeks. In the US, the album peaked at number one on the Billboard album charts and remained on the chart for 275 weeks.
How does ‘1’ compare to other albums by The Beatles?
Even though The Beatles have had incredible success with their albums, 1 is their most successful album by a reasonable amount. On Billboard, the band’s second most successful album is Abbey Road, which peaked at number one and remained on the chart for 265 weeks, 10 behind 1. However, Abbey Road remained number one for only one week, while 1 remained at number one for eight weeks.
In the UK, 1 stayed on the official charts for 390 weeks, going beyond any other album by The Beatles. The album that stayed on the album for the second-most number of weeks is Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which stayed on the chart for 277. However, Sgt. Pepper’s remained number one on the chart for 28 weeks, while 1 only remained on the chart for nine weeks. Interestingly, no song from Sgt. Pepper’s appears on 1, despite the record’s success.
