The Beatles' 12th official album, Abbey Road, was released in the UK on this day. Their last-recorded album, it was issued only in stereo, as Apple PCS 7088.
Abbey Road made its UK chart debut on 4 October 1969 at number one, following advance sales of 190,000. It topped the chart for 11 weeks, before dropping to number two when The Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed was released, but returned to the top spot a week later, on 27 December, and stayed there for a further six weeks. In total the album spent 92 weeks in the UK top 75.
Worldwide, it sold four million copies in its first six weeks on sale, and a further million by the end of 1969 - making it the best-selling long-player of the year. Abbey Road was the fourth best-selling album of the entire 1960s, and the eighth best-selling of 1970.
By October 1972 Abbey Road had sold 7.6 million copies worldwide. In 1980 it became The Beatles' first album to sell more than 10 million copies worldwide.
