Beatlemania usurped by Vera Lynn

And so it turned out to be one of the biggest anticlimaxes of the year. The Beatles’ back catalogue, released, re-mastered and with new stickers on the front, was expected to dominate this week’s album charts. But it wasn’t to be, as another blast from the past outshone them.

Although a quartet of records by the Fab Four broke into the top ten, the top spot went to Forces’ Sweetheart Vera Lynn, with her latest Best Of collection, named after her most famous song, We’ll Meet Again.

The Beatles didn’t even get the highest new entry, which went to Jamie T’s sophomore release Kings & Queens, entering the chart at 2. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was the highest selling Beatles album, followed by Abbey Road, Revolver and Rubber Soul.

The new Cribs album Ignore the Ignorant acted as the meat in the Beatles’ sandwich, and David Guetta and Arctic Monkeys made up the top ten, charting at 3 and 4 respectively, in both albums’ third week of release.

Turns out masses of free advertising from the BBC didn’t make that much difference after all.

This article was written for TMM.