The Beatles Abbey Road Turns 40

Forty years ago today, 26 September 1969, Abbey Road by the Beatles was released in the United Kingdom.

Here’s ten random Abbey Road facts…

1. It was the final album recorded by the band, although Let It Be was released in May 1970, most of it was recorded in January 1969, before the recording and release of the Abbey Road album.

2. Abbey Road became one of the most successful Beatles albums ever. In the UK the album debuted straight at #1 and spent its first 11 weeks in the UK charts at the top. In all it spent 92 weeks inside the UK Top 75, making a big re-entry after over 16 years in 31 October 1987, when it was released for the first time on CD and reached #30.

3. On a cover of Rolling Stone, Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa of The Simpsons play the roles of John, Ringo, Paul, and George respectively.

4. Abbey Road was the only Beatles album recorded on an 8-track tape machine, rather than the 4-track machines that were used for prior Beatles albums

5. In Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting, the four main characters walk towards a climactic drug deal, proceeding the “wrong” way across the famous crossing.

6. In the UK Abbey Road was the best-selling album of 1969 and the fourth best-selling of the entire 1960s, and the eighth best-selling album of 1970.

7. The album was re-released on 9 September 2009 with digitally remastered songs in stereo (though not in mono, as it was never released in mono at the time of its creation) along with other Beatles albums.

8. This was also the first Beatles’ album to reach the 10-million mark in worldwide sales, in 1980.

9. The cover is the only Beatles album cover of their original UK albums to have neither the group’s name or an album title visible.

10. The Volkswagen Beetle parked next to the zebra crossing belonged to one of the people living in the apartment across from the recording studio. After the album came out, the number plate was stolen repeatedly from the car. In 1986, the car was sold at an auction for $23,000 and is currently on display at the Volkswagen museum in Wolfsburg, Germany.

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