The Beatles, with two members deceased, top UK charts with new song featuring all members, how?

The legendary British band The Beatles' latest and final song, "Now And Then," has reached number one on the UK Official Singles Chart Top 100. It is the first time in 54 years that The Beatles have topped the Top 100 chart.

According to the latest chart released on the 10th (local time), "Now And Then" jumped 41 spots from the previous week to claim the number one position in one fell swoop. Released on the 2nd, this song marks The Beatles' 18th number one single overall.

British band The Beatles [Photo by Yonhap News]

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"Now And Then" features the voice of John Lennon, who stopped in his 30s, harmonizing with Paul McCartney, now in his 80s. The song is characterized by a calm yet sweet melody that stirs emotions. Originally, this track was an unfinished demo from 1977, with Lennon’s voice layered over piano accompaniment.

The Beatles disbanded in 1970, and Lennon was tragically shot and killed by an obsessed fan in front of his home in New York, USA, in 1980. Additionally, guitarist George Harrison passed away from lung cancer in 2001.

"Now And Then" is the last song featuring all members of The Beatles and attracted significant attention even before its release. Until now, The Beatles' last song was "Real Love," released in 1996, making this the first new Beatles song in 27 years. The Beatles used artificial intelligence (AI) technology to cleanly separate Lennon’s voice, then added the members’ instrumentation and chorus to complete the new track.

After Lennon’s death, his wife Yoko Ono handed a demo tape containing "Now And Then" to the remaining three Beatles members in 1994. At that time, The Beatles members and producer Jeff Lynne recorded new instrumentation and chorus and mixed it with the demo, but the release failed. The piano accompaniment in some sections drowned out Lennon’s voice. With the technology available then, it was impossible to separate the two sounds, so the song never saw the light of day.

After 27 years, in 2021, during the production of director Peter Jackson’s documentary "The Beatles: Get Back," an AI-based audio restoration method was found to solve this technical problem, and the new song release project resumed. The two surviving members, McCartney and Ringo Starr, led this project.

The completed "Now And Then" features Lennon’s voice clearly separated, combined with Harrison’s guitar performance recorded in 1995 and newly recorded drum performance by Ringo Starr. It also includes McCartney’s bass, slide guitar, piano playing, and the chorus by McCartney and Ringo.

This is the first time in 54 years since 1969’s "The Ballad of John and Yoko" that The Beatles have topped the UK Official Singles Chart Top 100. With this number one achievement, they also hold the unique record for the longest gap between number one hits. Additionally, The Beatles are now the British artists with the most number one singles on the Official Singles Chart Top 100. The only artist with more number one singles on this chart than The Beatles is American Elvis Presley, with 21.

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