The Beatles’ latest AI-generated track, “Now and Then,” has topped the UK charts for the first time in 54 years for the legendary British band, The Official Charts Company said on Friday.

Released last Thursday, the track, recorded by John Lennon in 1978 and then completed after his death by fellow band members Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, has been made possible thanks to the latest digital technology.

The last time a Beatles hit topped the UK weekly chart was in 1969 with “The Ballad of John and Yoko”, The Official Charts Company said in a press release, heralding “the return of ‘Beatlemania'”.

In total, the band, which disbanded in April 1970, had 18 chart-topping songs, starting with From Me to You in 1963.

“It’s amazing. I’m amazed. It’s also a very emotional moment for me,” 81-year-old Paul McCartney responded.

“Now and Then” was created from a demo recorded in the 1970s by John Lennon in his New York apartment. After his murder in 1980, his widow Yoko Ono gave the tape with the vocals and piano to the other band members in 1994.

They reworked it and made additions to it, but were never able to release it because the methods available at the time did not allow for John Lennon’s voice to be captured with sufficient quality.

The original demo added George Harrison’s electric and acoustic recordings from 1995, until his death in 2001. The track was completed last year in a Los Angeles studio, combining Ringo Starr’s drums, Paul McCartney’s piano and bass with the voices of two living members of The Beatles.

What critics say

“Now And Then” was generally positively received by critics, with The Guardian giving it four stars out of five and calling it “a poignant tribute to the band members’ bond”.

Clash describes the track as sentimental and “hugely infectious”, while Rolling Stone says it’s “a brilliant closing statement that the Fab Four – and their fans – deserve”.

Most critics seem to agree that this track cannot be compared to a traditionally recorded Beatles song. The Telegraph, which awarded the song three stars, noted that Now And Then “doesn’t reach the heights we expect from a great Beatles ballad”.

Variety felt it was unfair to question whether the song “lives up to the great legacy of the Beatles or their collective solo work”.

“Of course not, but it’s still an unexpected treat,” writes Jam Aswad.

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