Album release: 1

The compilation album 1 was released worldwide on 13 November 2000. It collected The Beatles’ number one hit singles, charting their rise from tentative R&B-influenced rockers through to era-defining songwriters.

The songs included on 1 were number one hits in either the UK or US charts – hence the inclusion of ‘Love Me Do’, which only managed number 17 in the UK, and ‘The Long And Winding Road’, which wasn’t even released as a single there.

1 was released worldwide on compact disc and cassette. A vinyl edition was initially available only in the United Kingdom.

The compilation was hugely successful, topping the album charts in more than 35 countries, and became the highest-selling album of the entire decade. The album sold 13.8 million copies worldwide that year, and was the fourth best-selling album behind Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP, Britney Spears’ Oops!… I Did It Again, and Santana’s Supernatural.

In the US, 1 charted at number one on the Billboard 200, with sales of more than 595,000 copies. It spent eight non-consecutive weeks at the top of the chart, and sold 1,258,667 copies in the week before Christmas. In the year 2000 1 was the sixth best-selling US album, with 5,100,000 copies sold.

In the UK the album became The Beatles’ 15th number one album, selling 319,126 copies in the first week. It became 2000’s best-selling album in just five weeks. 1 remains the band’s second best-selling album in the UK, behind Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

1 was also the year’s biggest-selling album in Australia, Italy, and Sweden. In 2001 it was the top seller in Austria and the USA.

also topped the albums charts in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.