1 (Beatles album)

Did You Know?

• 1 was the last Beatles album released during George Harrison's lifetime; he died on 29 November 2001.
• 1 inspired the release of other number-ones compilations including Elvis Presley's ELV1S (2002), Michael Jackson's Number Ones (2003), and the Bee Gees' Number Ones (2004).

Background

The album was put together by producer George Martin alongside surviving Beatles Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. It collects the 27 songs that hit number one in the UK on the Record Retailer Top 50 or in the US on the Billboard Hot 100. Although Harrison’s “For You Blue” reached number one on the Billboard chart as the B-side to “The Long and Winding Road,” Capitol Records treated it only as a B-side and never promoted it as an A-side.

“Day Tripper” made the cut because it was a double A-side with “We Can Work It Out” in the UK, where it also charted at number one; in the US, only “We Can Work It Out” reached the top. “Please Please Me” was left out because it never topped the Record Retailer chart or the Billboard Hot 100, even though it was the band’s first UK number one on other charts like New Musical Express, Melody Maker, and Disc. “Strawberry Fields Forever” was also omitted: it came out as a double A-side with “Penny Lane,” which hit number one in Melody Maker but peaked at number two elsewhere in the UK, while in the US “Penny Lane” topped the charts but “Strawberry Fields Forever” did not.

The compilation was finished before the 2023 single “Now and Then,” which later reached number one on the UK Singles Chart. The tracklist combines the US and UK versions of the 1982 compilation 20 Greatest Hits, adding “Something,” which had been left off that earlier set due to time limits. “Hey Jude” appears here in its full, seven-minute version, whereas the American edition of 20 Greatest Hits had a shortened cut. Before this release, all 27 songs were mostly available on two earlier remastered CD sets: the studio albums from 1987 and the Past Masters volumes from 1988, plus the 1993 CD editions of 1962–1966 and 1967–1970.

Sales and chart performance

The album 1 defied expectations, becoming the top-selling CD of 2000 and later the best-selling album of the entire decade. This feat made the Beatles the only artist to hold the best-selling album of two separate decades, having previously achieved this with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in the 1960s, though no tracks from that album appear here. 1 also gave the band a number-one album in the United States across four non-consecutive decades: the 1960s, 1970s, 1990s, and 2000s.

In the United Kingdom, it became the Beatles' fifteenth number-one album, selling 319,126 copies in its first week. By 18 December 2000, Ananova.com noted it had become the year's biggest seller in just five weeks. It was the first album in nearly ten years to hold the top spot for nine weeks, and it ended up as the best-selling album of 2000 and the sixth-best-selling of the 2000s in the UK. After eleven weeks, it had sold two million copies there, spending 46 weeks in the Top 75.

In July 2013, the BPI certified it 10x platinum for over three million UK sales. As of July 2016, that figure had reached over 3,230,000 copies. It ranks as the 21st-best-selling album in UK history and the second-best-selling Beatles album in the country, behind only Sgt. Pepper's. In the United States, 1 debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with sales exceeding 595,500 copies.

Track listing

All songs are written by Lennon–McCartney, except 'Something' by George Harrison. All tracks are produced by George Martin except 'The Long and Winding Road', re-produced for disc by Phil Spector. CD tracks 1–3 are in mono; all others on CD are in stereo. The CD opens with 'Love Me Do' (2:21), released in the UK on 5 October 1962 and in the US on 27 April 1964, where it reached number 1 for one week on 30 May 1964; this is the US version with Ringo Starr on tambourine and session musician Andy White on drums.

'From Me to You' (1:55) was released in the UK on 11 April 1963, where it reached number 1 for seven weeks on 2 May, and in the US on 27 May. 'She Loves You' (2:21) was released in the UK on 23 August 1963, reaching number 1 for four weeks on 14 September and for another two weeks on 28 November, and in the US on 16 September 1963, reaching number 1 for two weeks on 21 March 1964. 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' (2:24) follows. The track listing continues through all 27 number-one singles, ending with 'The Long and Winding Road'.

Release variations

The Beatles' greatest-hits collection 1 first appeared on CD in 2000, with separate releases for the UK (Apple 7243 5 29970 2 2) and the rest of the world (Apple 7243 5 29325 2 8). A remastered version hit shelves in 2011 under the catalog number Apple 50999 083070 2 6. On 6 November 2015, Apple Records issued a deluxe edition called 1+. For this set, Giles Martin remixed most tracks from the original multi-track tapes, though the first three songs remain in their original mono.

The 2015 release also includes surround-sound 5.1 mixes, offered as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio on Blu-ray, and as Dolby Digital and DTS on DVD. Fifty promotional films and performances appear on 1+, all digitally restored and enhanced, with commentary and introductions from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The album comes in several configurations: standard CD, CD/DVD, CD/Blu-ray, CD/2DVD, and CD/2Blu-ray. The double-disc video packages include a 124-page hardbound book with illustrations.

Stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray editions are also sold. The first disc features performances such as "Love Me Do" from the Little Theatre in Southport on 27 August 1963, "From Me to You" from the Royal Variety Performance on 4 November 1963, "She Loves You" from Swedish television on 30 October 1963, and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" from Granada TV Centre on 25 November 1963.