"Sgt Pepper's" entre dans les charts américains

HE TAUGHT THE BAND TO PLAY: When the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was released in 1967, it changed the way people thought about albums. It was a unique and cohesive work, and notably, there were no singles released from the LP.

In November 1968, Joe Cocker made his debut on the Hot 100 with a cover of a "Sgt. Pepper's" track, "With a Little Help from My Friends." That single peaked at No. 68 on the Billboard Hot 100. Six years later, Elton John's remake of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" entered the chart, ultimately peaking at No. 1.

In the '70s, Capitol Records issued three Beatles singles that charted long after the group had broken up. The third single was the album's opening medley of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help from My Friends," and it only went as high as No. 71.

This week, the song "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is back on the Hot 100 for the first time since that 1978 Beatles release. The Paul McCartney with U2 recording from the London Live 8 concert, sold as a digital download, debuts at No. 48, making this rendition the highest-charting version of the classic track.

The new "Sgt. Pepper's" is McCartney's highest-charting title under his own name since "My Brave Face" reached No. 25 in 1989 (as a member of the Beatles, Paul peaked at No. 6 in 1995 with "Free as a Bird" and No. 11 in 1996 with "Real Love"). As a solo act, McCartney now has a chart span of 34 years, four months and two weeks, counting back to the 1971 debut of "Another Day." His career chart span is extended to 41 years, six months and one week, dating back to the debut of the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in 1964.

McCartney's chart span as a songwriter is even longer. He and John Lennon now share a Hot 100 span of 42 years and four weeks, harking back to the debut of Del Shannon's cover of "From Me to You" in 1963.Since the multi-artist recording of the Beatles' "Across the Universe" from the Grammy telecast had a brief chart run earlier this year, 2005 is the first year that two songs penned by Lennon and McCartney have debuted on the chart since 1978. Three Lennon-McCartney songs bowed on the Hot 100 that year: "Come Together" by Aerosmith, "Oh! Darling" by Robin Gibb and "Got to Get You Into My Life" by Earth, Wind & Fire. All three were from the soundtrack to the movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

Finally, the McCartney/U2 recording makes history by becoming the first Beatles song to chart by an individual Beatle. McCartney has re-recorded Beatles' songs on his solo albums, but he has never charted on the Hot 100 with one until this week, 35 years after the Beatles broke up.