1 (2000)

1 is a greatest hits album of the British rock band the Beatles, originally released on 13 November 2000. The album features virtually every number-one single the band achieved in the United Kingdom or United States from 1962 to 1970. Issued on the 30th anniversary of the band's break-up, it was their first compilation album available on only one CD. 1 was a commercial success and topped charts worldwide. It has sold over 31 million copies. Since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking US album sales in January 1991, 1 is the fourth-best-selling album in the US, the best-selling album of the 2000s decade in the US, as well as the best-selling album of the decade worldwide.

1 was remastered and reissued in September 2011. It was remixed and reissued again in several different deluxe editions in November 2015, the most comprehensive of which is a three-disc set entitled 1+, which includes video discs of Beatles promotional films. As of June 2015, 1 was the sixth-best-selling album of the 21st century in the UK, having sold over 3.1 million copies.

1 was the last Beatles album to be released during George Harrison's lifetime, as he died on 29 November 2001, just over a year after 1 was released.

Background

1 was compiled by producer George Martin and former band members Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The album contains the 27 Beatles songs that went to number one in the United Kingdom on the Record Retailer Top 50 chart or in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Despite Harrison's "For You Blue" charting at number 1 on Billboard, along with the A-side "The Long and Winding Road", Capitol Records treated "For You Blue" as strictly a B-side and did not promote it as an A-side. "Day Tripper" was included on 1 since it charted at number 1 in the UK as a double A-side with "We Can Work It Out", while in the US, only "We Can Work It Out" was number 1. Two singles written by John Lennon and released in both the UK and US were omitted as they did not top either the Record Retailer chart or the Billboard Hot 100: "Please Please Me" and "Strawberry Fields Forever". The former was the Beatles' first UK number one single in all British charts except Record Retailer, reaching the top spot in the music magazines New Musical Express, Melody Maker and Disc. "Strawberry Fields Forever" was part of a double A-side single with "Penny Lane", which reached the top spot in Melody Maker and peaked at number 2 in the other UK charts, behind Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me"; while in the US, "Penny Lane" topped the charts, but "Strawberry Fields Forever" did not as it was listed separately. The compilation was created before the release of the single "Now and Then", which reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart in 2023.

The album is a combination of both the US and UK versions of the 1982 compilation 20 Greatest Hits, with the addition of "Something" (which was left off 20 Greatest Hits because of time constraints). On 1, "Hey Jude" was included in its original full-length version (slightly over seven minutes), whereas the American version of 20 Greatest Hits contained a shortened version.

Remastering

Before 1, all 27 songs were mainly available on two remastered CD releases: firstly on the respective Beatles studio albums released in 1987 (as well as Past Masters, Volume One and Past Masters, Volume Two, released in 1988). The second remastering was made available on the CD versions for 1962–1966 and 1967–1970, released in 1993.