The Beatles - 1

As you may have heard, in 2023, the Beatles re-entered the singles charts for the final time (or so we're told) with "Now and Then", a song written by John Lennon in 1977, attempted to be completed by the remaining three Beatles in 1996, and finally finished in 2021/2. So, yeah, this song was a long time coming. And it was treated as such, reaching number one in the UK, being their 18th number one single. The problem that you may have guessed, given the title of this page, is that The Beatles' 2000 compilation, 1, which includes all of their number one singles, has become outdated. Many have suggested that it should not be updated, as "Now and Then" shouldn't be put next to the rest of the Beatles catalogue. I don't agree, but even if you did want to update it, you'd likely run into a bit of a problem. That being that the 1 compilation, in its current form, is 78 minutes long, and "Now and Then" is four minutes long. Now, in case you need a quick recap, 78 + 4 is in fact 82, and 82 > 80. Therefore (or ∴ if you're still feeling the maths), "Now and Then" won't fit on the 1 compilation in CD form, and so we must give up and cry.

Or can we? I have come up with an alternate take on the album which rectifies one other issue people have with the album. A lot of people dislike how the album only includes songs that reached number one on the official UK and US charts, so songs like "Please Please Me", which reached number one on a number of UK charts but not the official one, are not included. This concept fixes that issue by accounting for all charts. I have gone through each single and checked the… Wikipedia page for it to see if it charted at number one anywhere. After putting all of these songs together, you get a double CD set, with "Now and Then" and a bunch of other new songs. I've made a tracklist here which lists where each track mentioned reached number one, except when there's way too many to count, in which case it's left blank.

Now, do I personally recommend using this as an introduction to the Beatles? No. Do I think this is a valid replacement of the current 1 set? No. Do I think that this is in any way a cohesive album summarising the Beatles' career? Absolutely not. But is it a neat concept that I came up with one time? Yes. And so it's here.

CD 1

No.	Title	Charted at number one in	Length
1	Love Me Do	Australia (Kent Music Report), New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade), US (Billboard, Cash Box)	2:22
2	Please Please Me	UK (NME, Melody Maker, Disc)	2:00
3	From Me to You	Ireland (IRMA), New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade), South Africa (Springbok), UK (OCC)	1:56
4	She Loves You		2:18
5	I Want to Hold Your Hand		2:24
6	Roll Over Beethoven	Australia (Kent Music Report), Denmark (Salgshitlisterne)	2:48
7	I Saw Her Standing There	Australia (Kent Music Report), Canada (CHUM), Denmark (Salgshitlisterne), New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade)	2:55
8	All My Loving	Australia (Kent Music Report), Canada (CHUM), Finland (The Official Finnish Charts), Sweden (Kvällstoppen, Tio i Topp)	2:04
9	This Boy	Canada (CHUM)	2:13
10	Twist and Shout	Argentina (CAPTIF), Finland (The Official Finnish Charts), New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade), US (Cash Box)	2:32
11	Can't Buy Me Love		2:11
12	Do You Want to Know a Secret	US (Teletheatre Research Institute, allegedly)	1:56
13	A Hard Day's Night		2:34
14	Long Tall Sally	Denmark (Salgshitlisterne), Sweden (Kvällstoppen)	2:03
15	Ain't She Sweet	Sweden (Tio i Topp)	2:10
16	I Should Have Known Better	Chile (Billboard), Netherlands (Dutch Top 100), Norway (VG-lista)	2:44
17	If I Fell	Norway (VG-lista)	2:22
18	I Feel Fine		2:25
19	She's a Woman	New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade)	3:00
20	Eight Days a Week	Canada (RPM), Netherlands (Dutch Top 100), US (Billboard, Cash Box)	2:44
21	Ticket to Ride		3:10
22	Rock and Roll Music	Australia (Kent Music Report), Finland (The Official Finnish Charts), Norway (VG-lista), Sweden (Kvällstoppen)	2:30
23	No Reply	Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)	2:15
24	I'll Follow the Sun	Sweden (Tio i Topp)	1:49
25	Help!		2:18
26	Yesterday	Belgium (Flanders Ultratop), Finland (The Official Finnish Charts), Netherlands (Dutch Top 100), Norway (VG-lista), Sweden (Kvällstoppen, Tio i Topp), US (Billboard, Cash Box)	2:03
27	We Can Work It Out		2:15
28	Day Tripper		2:50
29	Michelle		2:40
30	Nowhere Man	Australia (Kent Music Report), Canada (RPM), US (Record World)	2:44
31	Drive My Car	Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)	2:28
32	Girl	Argentina (CAPIF), Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)	2:32
33	Paperback Writer		2:16
			78:22

CD 2

No.	Title	Charted at number one in	Length
1	Eleanor Rigby	Australia (Go-Set), Belgium (Walloon Ultratop), Canada (RPM), New Zealand (Listener), UK (Record Retailer)	2:08
2	Yellow Submarine		2:38
3	Strawberry Fields Forever	Australia (Go-Set), Belgium (Walloon Ultratop), Netherlands (Dutch Top 100, Dutch Top 40), Norway (VG-lista), Sweden (Kvällstoppen)	4:07
4	Penny Lane		3:03
5	All You Need is Love		3:57
6	Hello, Goodbye		3:27
7	I Am the Walrus	Belgium (Walloon Ultratop)	4:33
8	Lady Madonna		2:16
9	Hey Jude		7:12
10	Revolution	Australia (Go-Set), Belgium (Walloon Ultratop), New Zealand (Listener)	3:21
11	Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da	Australia (Go-Set, Kent Music Report), Austria (Ö3), Japan (Oricon), New Zealand (Listener), Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade), West Germany (Musikmarkt)	3:07
12	Get Back		3:13
13	Don't Pass Me By	Denmark (Tipparaden)	3:51
14	The Ballad of John and Yoko		2:59
15	Something	Australia (Go-Set), Canada (RPM), New Zealand (Listener), US (Billboard), West Germany (Musikmarkt)	2:59
16	Come Together	Australia (Go-Set), Belgium (Musikmarkt), US (Billboard, Cash Box), West Germany (Official German Charts)	4:19
17	Let It Be		3:50
18	The Long and Winding Road	Canada (RPM), US (Billboard, Cash Box)	3:40
19	For You Blue	Canada (Maple Leaf System), US (Billboard)	2:32
20	Got to Get You into My Life	Canada (RPM)	2:27
21	Free as a Bird	Scotland (OCC)	4:26
22	Now and Then	Austria (Ö3), Germany (Official German Charts), UK (OCC)	4:08
			78:54

Great, now I've just got to make sure no Beatlehead notices that I haven't included the German version of "I Want to Hold Your"- HEY! HI! Hello, hi, how are you? A missing track? Oh, yeah, you mean the solo careers. Here, I made a tracklist of a 1-style compilation (with the original rules of UK and US number ones only) but with music from the Fab Four's solo careers!

1 (2, 3, 4)

No.	Title	Original release	Length
1	My Sweet Lord	Harrison - All Things Must Pass (1970)	4:39
2	Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey	McCartney (and Linda) - Ram (1971)	4:49
3	Imagine	Lennon - Imagine (1971)	3:03
4	My Love	McCartney (and Wings) - Red Rose Speedway (1973)	4:07
5	Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)	Harrison - Living in the Material World (1973)	3:36
6	Photograph	Starr - Ringo (1973)	4:00
7	You're Sixeteen (You're Beautiful and You're Mine)		2:46
8	Band on the Run	McCartney (and Wings) - Band on the Run (1973)	5:09
9	Whatever Gets You thru the Night	Lennon - Walls and Bridges (1974)	3:27
10	Listen to What the Man Said	McCartney (and Wings) - Venus and Mars (1975)	3:57
11	Silly Love Songs	McCartney (and Wings) - Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976)	5:54
12	Mull of Kintyre	McCartney (and Wings) - non-album single (1977)	4:45
13	With a Little Luck	McCartney (and Wings) - London Town (1978)	3:13
14	Coming Up (Live in Glasgow)	McCartney (and Wings) - non-album single, originally from McCartney II (1980)	4:10
15	(Just Like) Starting Over	Lennon (and Ono) - Double Fantasy (1980)	3:54
16	Woman		3:32
17	Ebony and Ivory	McCartney (and Stevie Wonder) - Tug of War (1982)	3:42
18	Say Say Say	McCartney (and Michael Jackson) - Pipes of Peace (1983)	3:55
19	Pipes of Peace	McCartney - Pipes of Peace (1983)	3:24
20	Got My Mind Set on You	Harrison - Cloud Nine (1987)	3:50
			79:52