Beatles Post Huge Sales in First Week on iTunes

The Beatles sold more than 450,000 albums and 2 million individual songs worldwide in the first week that the group's music was available on iTunes, according to a representative from the company.

In the U.S., the best-selling album was Abbey Road, and the best-selling song was that album's "Here Comes the Sun."

At press time on Tuesday, three Beatles albums were in the top 20 of the iTunes albums chart (Abbey Road, the White Album and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) and 15 were in the top 100, with the $149 Box Set at Number 28. Of the albums made available on Tuesday, only the Yellow Submarine soundtrack, which includes just four songs unavailable elsewhere, was not in the top 100.

The iTunes songs chart had seven Beatles songs in the top 100, although "Let It Be" appeared twice (with one version coming from the album of the same name, the other from the boxed set).

The Top Ten Beatles Songs of All Time

Apple announced last Tuesday that the Beatles' recordings would finally be available for purchase on iTunes, many years after most other artists' catalogs became available. The group's 13 original albums, the two-volume Past Masters compilation, the 1962-66 and 1967-70 collections became available from the iTunes' Store as albums or individual songs. Also available is a digital box set featuring a video recording of the group's entire first U.S. concert in 1964; that concert can be streamed for free from the iTunes site through the end of this year.

Invasion of the Beatles: Rare Photos of the Band's 1964 U.S. Tour

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Song Stories

“Satisfied”

Tom Waits | 2011

Only the genius of Tom Waits could combine the subject of mortality, a reoccurring theme in his work, with wordplay that name checks both Mick and Keith, whom he calls "Mr. Jagger" and "Mr. Richards," and the title of their magnum opus, "Satisfaction." And to show just how cool Waits really is, he even got Mr. Richards to play along, one of nine guest appearances the guitarist has made on three Waits albums. "This growling roadhouse stomp is a late-breaking response to the Stones' greatest hit," Rolling Stone said of the track.

More Song Stories entries »

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