Beatles take ticket to ride to top of US charts

Beatles take ticket to ride to top of US charts
REUTERS

LOS ANGELES, NOV 23: Thirty years after they broke up, the Beatles surprised music industry pundits on Wednesday when a new hits compilation debuted at No.1 on the US Pop album charts.

The album, bearing the apt title 1, sold about 595,000 copies in the week which ended on November 19, the group's U S Record company said. The figure was more than double what observers had forecast.

1, which boasts all 27 of the Fab Four's American and British No 1 singles, becomes the Beatles' 19th U S chart-topper. They last ruled the charts with Anthology 3, which debuted with about 237,000 copies in November 1996.

The new album also becomes the Beatles' second biggest U S debut, following the 855,500 debut for Anthology 1 in November 1995. No doubt helping sales for 1 was the ABC TV special, "The Beatles Revolution," which attracted 8.7 million viewers last Friday. It will be rebroadcast on U S Cable television's VH1.

1 was released in the United States by Capitol Records, a unit of EMI Group Plc. . Capitol President Roy Lott said 1 is also tops in 16 other countries to date, including such key markets as Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Spain.

Lott said in an interview that 1 would likely benefit from the U S Thanksgiving holiday and sell a similar amount in its second week. Big-selling albums often suffer a slump after the initial excitement has faded.

However, the Beatles are expected to yield the No. 1 slot to Black & Blue, the new album from American boy band Backstreet Boys.

The current No. 1 slot had been expected to be a race between the various artists compilation "Now That's What I Call Music! 5 and the new album from Latino pop star Ricky Martin, both released by Sony Corp.'s Columbia Records.

Now 5, featuring such acts as Britney Spears and Bon Jovi, debuted at No. 2, while Martin's Sound Loaded opened at No 4. Its sales were less than half those of his eponymous chart-topping release in May 1999.

London-based pop singer Sade ended a lengthy hiatus in fine style as her new album, Lovers Rock, opened at No. 3, the same position as her previous studio album, Love Deluxe, in November 1992. Sade records for Sony's Epic Records label.

Last week's No. 1, hip-hop singer R. Kelly's TP-2.com, released by privately held Jive Records, fell to No. 5.

Meanwhile EMI-owned Virgin Records received more bad news on the Spice Girls album. After debuting a week ago at a disappointing No. 39, the feisty foursome's Forever tumbled to No. 78 in the latest rankings.