Studio - 10. The Beatles (album) : 7. Sales, 8. Re-issues.

Studio - 10. The Beatles (album)

7. Sales.

As it was their first studio album in almost eighteen months (and coming after the blockbuster success of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) expectations were high at time of release of The Beatles. The album debuted straight at #1 in the UK on 1 December 1968,^[38] (becoming their third album to do so, after Help! and Revolver). It spent seven weeks at the top of the UK charts (including the entire competitive Christmas season), until it was replaced by The Seekers' Best of the Seekers on 25 January 1969, dropping to number two. However, the album returned to the top spot the next week, spending an eighth and final week at #1. Then, it spent another four weeks on the Top 10, and then dropped the charts quicker than Sgt. Pepper. The White Album was particularly notable for blocking the Beatles follow-up album, Yellow Submarine, which debuted (and peaked at) #3 on 8 February 1969, the same week The White Album was dominating the second position on the charts. In all, The Beatles spent 24 weeks on the UK charts (a far cry comparison to the over 200 weeks spent by Sgt. Pepper's).

In the United States, the album was received with huge commercial success. It debuted at #11, then reached #2, and finally peaked at #1 in its third week, spending a total of nine weeks at the top. In all, The Beatles spent 155 weeks on the Billboard 200. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, The Beatles is The Beatles' best-selling album at 19-times platinum and the tenth-best-selling album of all time in the United States.

8. Re-issues.

Two re-issues in 1978 (one by Capitol Records, the other by Parlophone) saw the album pressed on white vinyl, completing the look of the "white" album. In 1985, EMI Electrola released a DMM (direct metal mastering) white vinyl pressing of the album in Germany, which was imported to the United States in large numbers. Another popular white vinyl pressing was manufactured in France. The 1978 Parlophone white vinyl export pressing and the German DMM pressing are considered by many to be the best-sounding versions of the album.^{[citation needed]} This is due to the use of the famed Neumann lathe on the 1978 export pressing and the use of the DMM process on the 1985 pressing.

On January 7, 1982, Mobile Fidelty Sound Lab released the album in a non-embossed unnumbered version of The White Album cover with the ORIGINAL MASTER RECORDING banner at the top. Neither the poster nor portraits were included. The labels to the discs are white with primarily black text and the Capitol dome logo at three o'clock. The MFSL discs were made with Super Vinyl, a heavy and hard compound that that provides an extraordinary quiet playing surface. Although MFSL leased the album from Capitol and used the company's sub-master, many fans believe they sound superior to the standard British and American pressings. The discs were stored in "rice paper" static-free, dust-free inner sleeves enclosed in an off-white gatefold reinforced stiff board that fit into the custom fabricated album jacket.

In 1998, a 30th anniversary reissue of the album was released on a two-disc compact disc version in the United Kingdom. The packaging of this release is virtually identical to its vinyl counterpart. It has the same pure white gatefold cover, complete with the title "The BEATLES" in a slightly raised, embossed graphic at a slight angle. It also included the now-classic sequentially numbered serial number on the front of this cover, thus making this one a real limited edition. The interior of this cover features the song titles on the left-hand side, and the four black-and-white photos of the group members on the right. This version of the cover even accurately mimics the original British vinyl pressing from 1968, with the openings for the discs at the top rather than the sides. There are miniatures of the four full-colour glossy portrait photos included, as well as an exact replica of the poster with the photo collage on one side, and the album's complete song lyrics on the opposite side. The CDs are housed in black sleeves, which were also used for the original British album. This commemorative double CD album is housed in a clear plastic slipcase.