The Beatles set record 54-year gap between No 1 singles as Now and Then tops UK chart

Paul McCartney says success of band’s ‘final’ song together has ‘blown my socks off’, as it becomes the fastest-selling vinyl single this century

The Beatles have broken UK chart records as they return to No 1 with their “final” song together, Now and Then – their 18th chart-topper in total.

Their 17th No 1 was The Ballad of John and Yoko in 1969, meaning they are now the artists with the longest gap between No 1 singles: 54 years, smashing the record set last year by Kate Bush when she reached the top with Running Up That Hill, 44 years after her No 1 with Wuthering Heights. Neither of the new songs the living members of the Beatles released in 1995 and 1996, Free as a Bird and Real Love, topped the charts.