Taylor Swift is breaking all sorts of records right now. This week she has also kept ahead of The Beatles in a race to the top of the charts. The Fab Four weren’t able to overtake her in a contest between reworked albums in their homeland.
The Beatles have just re-released their two compilation albums. The Beatles 1962–1966 usually referred to as The Red Album and The Beatles 1967-1970, as The Blue Album. Both albums were originally released back in 1973 but have been reworked to varying degrees before being released again this month.
The Red Album has had most of the rework with very basic original stereo quality upgraded to wide spectrum stereo on the majority of the tracks. Both albums have had additional songs added to the 1973 track lists. When they were first released back then expectations were high for chart success. The albums were however blocked from the UK number one album position in 1973 by Aladdin Sane from David Bowie which took the top slot ahead of them.
History repeats as Taylor Swift holds off The Beatles
History has repeated itself in the UK for the Fab Four's latest release. They hit number one in the UK singles chart with their clever AI-supported “Now And Then” song. But they’ve been blocked once again in the UK album charts. This time it's Taylor Swift in the top spot with her 1989 album, another original album reworked and re-released. This week in the UK album charts The Blue Album is in second place and The Red Album is in third place.
Swift has been reworking a series of her early albums in response to the sale of her previous record company Big Machine Records. 1989 is the latest of the series of what has been referred to as Taylor’s Versions. Swift’s reworked versions have proved phenomenally successful so far. She’ll likely be delighted by keeping such a legendary group as The Beatles behind her in that album race, especially in the UK. As her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end, Travis Kelce might see it, that's an amazing away win.
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