The Beatles could land their first UK No. 1 single in 54 years with Now And Then.
Billed as the “final song” to be released by the Fab Four, the track – which has been completed with the help of AI after John Lennon’s demo sat in the vault for decades – is currently outselling the Top 5 combined.
If it reaches the top spot, it will be the group’s first No. 1 hit since The Ballad Of John And Yoko in 1969.
Now And Then debuted at No. 42 in the UK last week based on 10 hours of sales but now looks certain to reach the summit on Friday (November 10).
It comes ahead of BTS member Jung Kook, whose Standing Next To You is on track to hit No. 2, becoming this week’s highest new entry.
John Lennon first wrote and recorded a demo of Now And Then with piano and vocals in the late 1970s at his home in New York’s Dakota building, with his wife Yoko Ono passing the track to McCartney, Starr and George Harrison in 1994, along with the demos for Free As A Bird and Real Love.
Both of those songs were completed and released in the mid-’90s as part of the band’s ‘Anthology’ project and they’re doing the same with the new song, using WingNut Films’ MAL audio technology – which was also used in Peter Jackson’s acclaimed ‘Get Back’ and for a 2022 remix of their seminal album ‘Revolver‘ – to isolate elements of the track and add clarity to the stem of Lennon’s vocals and piano.
Alongside the release, a music video directed by Jackson has also been released.
