“New” Beatles song on its way to the top of the British charts

Released last Thursday, “Now and Then,” featuring the voice of John Lennon, debuted at number 42 on the UK Singles Chart based on just 10 hours of sales, the Official Charts Company said. The Beatles song is expected to rise to the top of the hit list in the new charts. The new charts will be announced on Friday.

• Read more: “Now And Then”: This is the new Beatles song
• Pros & Cons: “Now and Then” – is it really a Beatles song?

First number one hit in 54 years?

If “Now and Then” makes it to number one, it would be the Fab Four’s 18th number one hit – and their first in 54 years. In 1969, “The Ballad of John and Yoko” had reached the top position of the British charts. However, the Beatles will not be able to break the record for most number one hits in Great Britain with “Now and Then”. Rock’n’Roll legend Elvis Presley has already had 21 number one hits.

The ex-Beatle Lennon recorded “Now and Then” in his New York apartment for Paul McCartney in the late 1970s. After his murder in December 1980, his widow Yoko Ono gave McCartney the demo cassette with Lennon’s voice and piano accompaniment in 1994. Two songs from the cassette were remixed and released by producer Jeff Lynne in the mid-90s. However, the technology at the time was not sufficient to remove disturbing background noises from “Now and Then” and to extract the deceased’s voice in sufficient quality. This has now been achieved with the help of artificial intelligence.