Beatles FAQ

Worldwide sales of physical singles are difficult estimate accurately but we can say the following.

British album releases generally did not include singles

  Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash Until the late 1960s singles by The Beatles singles far outsold their LPs . This was the standard pattern of record sales at that time. LPs were considered a luxury item and generally beyond the reach of most teenagers.  That said, The Beatles did have an unusual multi-generational appeal. And the kids who bought their singles would later come back to buy not just the studio albums but various compilations. From  Statista Studio Albums The Beatles officially released  13  studio  albums between 1962 and their break up. Over time  the biggest selling has been  Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band  (1967). This has sold an estimated 32 million In the 1990s they released three anthology albums. Compilations The best selling was  Number 1s,  a compilation of singles. This was only released in 2000, thirty years after the band last recorded together.  Two double albums summarising their career:  The Beatles/1962-1966  and  The Beatles/1967-1970  sold very