The Beatles
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Paul McCartney is no stranger when it comes to creating record-breaking music, but fans of the musician are about to get a peek at another skill of his: photography. A new book titled 1964: Eyes of the Storm by McCartney is set to come out June 13, and will feature unseen photos from The Beatles’ first transatlantic tour. Collectors or those looking for gifts for The Beatles fans can preorder the book through Amazon, Walmart and Barnes and Noble.
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It’s almost no surprise that the book is already a chart-topper, reaching No. 1 status for Amazon new releases. The book is currently on sale for $63.75, meaning you can preorder it for a fraction of the price. For those who prefer a digital version, it’s also available in a Kindle edition for $35.99.
According to the description, fans will get “largely unseen photographs [taken by McCartney using a 35mm camera] capture the explosive period, from the end of 1963 through early 1964, in which The Beatles became an international sensation and changed the course of music history.”
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The book features 275 photos captured around six cities, including Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C., and Miami. There is also an introduction by historian Jill Lepore, along with a personal foreword by McCartney as he recalls the emotions and events that took place as the band played for British concert halls, and the excitement from fans following their first visit to the U.S.
With the rise of coffee-table books as a trendy piece of decor, you’ll want to make sure this book has a front and center spot for all guest to see. If you’re a collector, then make sure you display it among your other Beatles merch, such as the band’s Magna tiles set and special-edition record player.
And, while you wait for the book to come out on June 13, you can go back in time and watch the docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, which is available on Blue-ray/DVD and Disney+ for a more in-depth look at the history and rise of the band.
For more product recommendations, check out our round ups of the best record players and turntables, speakers for music lovers and where to take online music lessons.
The Beatles’ Revolver album, first released in 1966, rushes to No. 1 on multiple Billboard charts following its deluxe expanded reissue on Oct. 28. The set re-enters at No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Catalog Albums (all dated Nov. 12) – its first week at No. 1 on all three lists. Revolver also re-enters Top Album Sales, Vinyl Albums and Tastemaker Albums at No. 2.
On the Billboard 200, the former No. 1 – which spent six weeks atop the list in 1966 – re-enters the list at No. 4.
For Revolver’s special edition, the album was reintroduced and remixed in a variety of expanded formats and editions, including many with previously unreleased tracks. The range included a standard digital album priced at $9.99 in the iTunes Store up through a boxed set boasting four vinyl LPs and two seven-inch singles that sold for $200 or more, depending on the retailer.
All versions of Revolver, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting purposes. In the tracking week ending Nov. 3, Revolver earned 54,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. (up 1,963%). Of that sum, traditional album sales comprise 46,000 (up 6,346%).
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Catalog Albums rank the week’s most popular rock and alternative albums, rock albums and catalog albums, respectively, by equivalent album units. (Catalog albums are older albums, generally those at least 18-months old.) Tastemaker Albums ranks the week’s best-selling albums at independent and small chain record stores. Vinyl Albums tallies the top-selling vinyl albums of the week.
Of Revolver’s 46,000 in album sales for the week, physical sales comprise 42,000 (18,000 on vinyl and 24,000 on CD) and digital album download sales comprise 4,000.
The rerelease of Revolver is part of the ongoing series of expanded reissues of select studio albums by The Beatles. It follows reissues of Let It Be in 2021 (first released in 1970), Abbey Road in 2019 (first released in 1969), The Beatles in 2018 (often referred to as the White Album, first released in 1968) and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 2017 (first released in 1967).
Taylor Swift’s Midnights holds at No. 1 on Top Album Sales for a second week, selling 114,000 copies (down 90%). In its debut frame a week ago, the set exploded atop the list with 1.140 million copies sold.
Grateful Dead’s Dave’s Picks, Volume 44: Autzen Stadium, U. of Oregon, Eugene, OR – 6/23/90 debuts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales with 22,000 sold. Dave’s Picks is the act’s continuing live archival release series, named for the group’s archivist, David Lemieux, that has been going strong since its first release in 2012. Releases in the series are issued exclusively on CD and in limited quantities.
On the Billboard 200 chart, Dave’s Picks, Vol. 44 debuts at No. 3 – marking the band’s 54th top 40-charting album on the list. The act continues to have the most top 40 albums among groups since the chart began regularly publishing on a weekly basis in March of 1956. The acts with the most top 40 albums on the Billboard 200 are: Frank Sinatra (58), Elvis Presley (58), Barbra Streisand (54), Grateful Dead (54) and Bob Dylan (51). (Thirty-six of Grateful Dead’s 53 top 40-charting albums are from the Dave’s Picks series.)
A trio of debuts is next up on Top Album Sales as Berner’s From Seed to Sale (14,000), Baby Keem’s The Melodic Blue (11,000) and Polyphia’s Remember That You Will Die (10,000) bow at Nos. 4-6, respectively. It’s the first top 10-charting set for the latter two acts, while Berner notches his second top 10 effort. The Melodic Blue was initially released a little over a year ago as a digital download album, but makes its belated debut on Top Album Sales following its vinyl LP release on Oct. 28; nearly all of its sales for the week were on vinyl. The album has yet to be issued on CD or any other physical format.
LE SSERAFIM’s ANTIFRAGILE falls 3-7 on Top Album Sales in its second week (7,000; down 65%).
Foo Fighters’ new greatest hits compilation The Essential Foo Fighters debuts at No. 8 on Top Album Sales with 7,000 sold. Of that sum, physical sales comprise 6,500 (3,500 on vinyl and 3,000 on CD) and digital album downloads comprise 500. The album also bows in the top 10 across a variety of other charts, including Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Top Hard Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums. The set also launches at No. 42 on the Billboard 200.
The 21-track The Essential Foo Fighters includes such hit songs as “All My Life,” “Best of You,” “Learn to Fly,” “Long Road to Ruin,” “Rope,” “The Pretender” and “Walk” – all of which hit No. 1 on the Alternative Airplay chart.
The Essential brand is the long-running compilation series from Sony Music’s catalog division, Legacy, and has charted dozens of charting titles on the Billboard 200 and Top Album Sales since the early 2000s from artists such as Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and Barbra Streisand.
The Essential Foo Fighters is the first in the Essential series to reach the top 10 on Top Album Sales. Previously, the highest-charting effort in the Essential series on Top Album Sales was The Essential Bruce Springsteen, when it debuted and peaked at No. 14 on the Nov. 29, 2003-dated chart.
The Essential Foo Fighters is the highest charting Essential album on the Billboard 200 since The Essential Michael Jackson rose to No. 31 on the Sept. 8, 2018-dated chart. The Essential Foo Fighters is also the highest debut from the Essential line since The Essential Leonard Cohen debuted and peaked at No. 13 on the Dec. 3, 2016 chart, following his death.
Harry Styles’ former No. 1 Harry’s House climbs 12-9 with a little over 6,000 sold (down 2%), while Demon Hunter clocks its fourth top 10 with the No. 10 arrival of Exile (6,000).
In the week ending Nov. 3, there were 1.618 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 42.1% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.237 million (up 46%) and digital albums comprised 381,000 (up 24.4%).
There were 621,000 CD albums sold in the week ending Nov. 3 (down 37.8% week-over-week) and 606,000 vinyl albums sold (down 52.3%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 29.021 million (down 7.1% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 32.574 million (up 3.7%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 79.244 million (down 6.5% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 62.049 million (down 1.6%) and digital album sales total 17.194 million (down 21%).
Welcome to The Contenders, a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard 200 albums chart dated Nov. 12): Taylor Swift’s record-setting Midnights enters its second frame, facing competition from rap star Kodak Black, rising country singer-songwriter Lainey Wilson, and a quartet of up-and-comers from Liverpool.
The Beatles, Revolver: Special Edition (Apple)
It was No. 1 for six weeks in September and October 1966, and 56 years later it could top the Billboard 200 again. The Beatles’ Revolver, widely regarded as one of the greatest rock albums of all time, was reissued on Oct. 28 in a new Special Edition, centered around a stereo remix of the album from Giles Martin (son of original Revolver producer George Martin) and Sam Okell.
The set comes in a variety of different packages: a five-CD (or four-LP plus one 7-inch vinyl) super deluxe version featuring dozens of bonus demos and sessions, a two-CD/LP deluxe version with 15 bonus “Revolver Sessions Highlights,” and a one-CD/LP version with just the original remixed album. (All versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting purposes.) The Beatles have already released ambitious box sets dedicated to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles (The White Album), Abbey Road and Let It Be — all of which returned to the Billboard 200’s top 10.
Kodak Black, Kutthroat Bill, Vol. 1 (Atlantic)
Billboard reported last week that hip-hop star Kodak Black will head to Capitol Records when his current deal with Atlantic is through — but he still owes the latter label two albums. The first of them dropped Friday: Kutthroat Bill, Vol. 1, the Florida rapper’s second 2022 release, following February’s Back for Everything.
Kodak is familiar with the Billboard 200’s top spot, as his 2018 album Dying to Live reigned for one week, while Back for Everything debuted at No. 2 behind the Encanto soundtrack. Kutthroat doesn’t have a crossover single as massive as those sets’ “ZEZE” and “Super Gremlin,” respectively — both of which reached the Billboard Hot 100‘s top five — but it does have a streaming-friendly 19 tracks, and a recent Hot 100 debut with the woozy advance single “Walk.”
Lainey Wilson, Bell Bottom Country (BBR)
“Lainey Wilson is the next superstar for the format,” proclaimed Charlie Cook, vp Country Format at Cumulus, to Billboard in September. Wilson will show how close she’s gotten to fulfilling that prediction with the release of Bell Bottom Country, her second album since signing to BBR. The set — which like her previous release is produced by Jay Joyce — is preceded by two hit Wilson duets from earlier this year: “Never Say Never” with Cole Swindell (a Country Airplay No. 1) and “Wait in the Truck” with HARDY. Neither cut appears on Bell Bottom Country, but her own “Heart Like a Truck” does — hitting a new peak of No. 23 on Country Airplay this week — as does a cover of ’90s rockers 4 Non Blondes’ karaoke classic “What’s Up?”
IN THE MIX
Baby Keem, The Melodic Blue (pgLang/Columbia): Reigning best new artist Grammy winner Baby Keem’s debut album has been on the Billboard 200 since it debuted at No. 5 in Sept. 2021, sitting at No. 105 on the current week’s chart. Expect it to climb higher next week, thanks to a deluxe reissue with seven new bonus tracks, including guest spots from streaming fixtures Don Toliver, PinkPantheress and Lil Uzi Vert.
The Grateful Dead, Dave’s Picks Vol. 44 (Rhino): The legendary jam band is a regular on the Billboard 200 with the Dave’s Picks series, which features live shows selected by Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux. The most recent set, July’s Vol. 43, was the highest-charting on the Billboard 200 to date, reaching No. 11; if Vol. 44 makes the chart’s top 10, it would be the first Dead album to score that high since In the Dark hit No. 6 in 1987.
Smino, Luv 4 Rent (Zero Fatigue/Motown): The acclaimed R&B singer-songwriter’s third album is also his first since announcing the new partnership between his indie/collective Zero Fatigue and the iconic Motown label. The 15-track set includes collaborations with R&B sensations Lucky Daye and Ravyn Lanae, as well as rap superstars J. Cole and (again) Lil Uzi Vert.
Michael Jackson, Thriller (Epic): The best-selling original album in pop music history remains a Billboard 200 fixture; it’s No. 61 this week, in its 545th week on the chart. But it’s also a Spooky Season perennial, thanks largely to its eerie, Vincent Price-narrated title track. Last year the set jumped to No. 25 on the chart following Halloween, and it should be due for another big leap this November.