The Beatles reached No. 1 on the UK Official Singles Chart with “Now and Then” on November 10, 2023. They had first reached the top with “From Me to You” in May 1963. That gave the band a record span of 60 years and six months between their first and most recent UK No. 1, according to Official Charts.
The single had been released on November 2, leaving just ten hours of sales and streams for its first chart appearance at No. 42. After a full tracking week, it climbed to the top with 78,200 combined UK chart units, including 19,400 vinyl copies. It became their 18th UK No. 1 and their first since “The Ballad of John and Yoko” in 1969, establishing a separate record for the 54-year gap between chart-toppers.
The recording that closed that gap began as John Lennon’s late-1970s home demo, with his voice and piano captured together on tape. Yoko Ono passed it to Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in 1994. They worked on it during the 1995 Anthology sessions, but couldn’t separate Lennon’s singing from the piano well enough to finish it. While “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” emerged from the project as completed Beatles singles, “Now and Then” stayed unfinished. Peter Jackson’s audio team supplied the missing piece. The separation technology used for the 2021 documentary series The Beatles: Get Back allowed Lennon’s vocal to be isolated from his accompaniment. McCartney and Starr resumed work in 2022. The finished recording combined that recovered voice and Harrison’s 1995 guitar parts with fresh drums from Starr and bass, piano and guitar from McCartney. McCartney also played a slide guitar solo in tribute to Harrison.
Harrison’s contribution helped determine what the others added. Co-producer Giles Martin told GRAMMY.com in 2023 that McCartney spent time studying Harrison’s guitar playing, then changed the string arrangement to fit it. “It’s in service to the guitar; it doesn’t go against George’s playing,” Martin explained. Martin felt some synthesizer parts were no longer needed once they decided to add strings. Finishing the song involved decisions about what to leave out as well as what to record, with Harrison’s existing performance guiding work he could no longer join.
Jackson faced a related problem when making the music video: finding footage that could bring those different recording periods together. In an account published on The Beatles’ website, he recalled initially worrying that too little suitable film existed. Apple then located more than 14 hours of footage from the 1995 sessions, including work on “Now and Then,” while McCartney and Starr filmed new performances. He also used candid Beatles outtakes to give the film moments of humor alongside its more emotional passages.
The single’s double A-side paired “Now and Then” with a new stereo mix of “Love Me Do,” their UK debut single from 1962. That was an earlier starting point than the No. 1 run measured by the chart record.
The chart result brought a personal response from McCartney. “It’s also a very emotional moment for me,” he told Official Charts. The song’s recognition continued beyond its UK chart run: “Now and Then” won Best Rock Performance at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
