The Beatles is expected to return to the No. 1 seat on Billboard's Digital Song Sales Chart dated November 11 with their "last" song: "Now and Then."
According to the Official Charts Company, it has already hit No. 1 on the iTunes Song Chart in the US on the day of its release. This is not a surprise to any Beatles enthusiast, as they are still the record holder for having the most No. 1 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Now and Then" is expected to join the Fab Four's roster of timeless and undisputed classics.
However, the band's journey back to the top is not a quick one, with the catalyst for The Beatles' return to the top coming from a widely controversial innovation.
50 Years in the Making
According to George Harrison, it was always understood among the members that, after John Lennon's untimely death, he had to be included again somehow if the band was to pursue making another song. In 1994, the then-trio was given an opportunity with the "Now and Then" song.
"I was talking to Yoko, and she said, 'Ah, I think I've got a tape of John'," George said in a short documentary about the song.
The tape contained a demo that John had recorded in the 70s and was the much sought-after piece the trio had been waiting for.
That said, the harshness of the tape's sound quality prevented any progress from being made, which in Paul McCartney's mind meant that the song just kind of "languished" away. And in 2001, the song's chance to be developed seemed to grow even weaker after George Harrison's death.
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How AI Saved 'Now and Then' of Beatles
While shooting a documentary on The Beatles in 2022, film director Peter Jackson and his team developed an AI-assisted technology that allowed him to separate the vocal stems of old recordings free from any unwanted audio artifacts.
Catching wind of this news, Paul McCartney wasted no time and provided the John Lennon tape to Peter.
"We thought, 'Well, we'd better send John's voice to them, off of the original cassette," Paul noted. Of course, when the public first heard of AI being utilized for a new Beatles song, the reactions were mixed with both clamor and disapproval.
Since the single's release, the fans have now unified in adoration, evident in the 21 million and growing view count of the song's YouTube music video, now knowing that AI's usage was not synonymous with how it was used in recent viral videos of AI covers of songs starring artists that have long passed like Frank Sinatra.
"Now and Then" will now forever be a testament to how "just" the usage of AI can help preserve and continue the legacy of legends like The Beatles.
