Friday March 29th, 2024
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The Beatles Finally Go Platinum

Probably the biggest selling band of all time, The Beatles never received platinum status because they were over before the ranking system was put in place. However, now 13 of their records are officially platinum-selling.

Staff Writer

This shouldn't be breaking news but it is. THE BEATLES have finally gone platinum. Take that Lady Gaga. The gold (selling 500,000) or platinum (a million in sales) status has been the measure of success for record sales since 1973. Unfortunately, The Beatles broke up before then, so they were never officially recognised.

Until last month, British Phonographic Industry used to rely on an artist or band's record company to request an award. The new system, however, has sales figures automatically recognised as soon as the record passes the relevant threshold.

That means that 13 Beatles' albums will now be recognised as platinum selling for the first time. Despite the fact that the number of sales can only be counted from 1994, this still means that Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is now triple platinum having sold 900,000 copies since 1994. Since its 1967 release, it is estimated that they sold 5.1 million copies in the UK alone.

The albums Revolver, Help, Rubber Soul and The White Album are just a few that now have platinum status. With the new system in place, there will be a slew of classic albums from the likes of Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys and Marvin Gaye which will also receive belated awards.