It was almost like repeat of 1964, when the Beatles dominated the Billboard Charts. This past week the Beatles dominated the Apple iTunes chart in a similar fashion.
Abbey Road was the top selling album on iTunes and Here Comes the Sun was the top selling song this week for Apples music service. Eleven of the Beatles albums made iTunes top 25 album downloads.
As Mashable Entertainment reminds, there were many legal issues to sort out between the Beatles Apple and Steve Jobs Apple to get to this point.
Getting there was no easy task, however. Back in 1978, the Beatles’ corporation Apple Corps sued Apple Inc. (then Apple Computer) for trademark infringement. The suit was settled in 1981, but it dragged on for decades, reaching pinnacle in 2003, with Apple’s launch of iTunes, when Apple Corps once again sued Apple Computer, claiming it had violated the agreement not to distribute music. Finally, on February 2007 the two companies settled their trademark dispute, but it took three more years for the Beatles’ catalog to reach iTunes. Judging by the impressive sales, the long wait paid off for both companies in the end.
My own thoughts on this is part of the Beatles magic is not just with the songs--it's with how they revolutionized the record album and made a statement. When fans download a Beatles song from iTunes they aren't getting the Sgt. Peppers or Revolver album art to hold in their hands and ponder all the hidden meanings. It takes away from the magic, and besides with all the reissues out there and the number of CDs that could easily be ripped and put on an iPod or any other MP3 player, the numbers are amazing to say the least. It doesn't matter how the songs are packaged, Beatles fans are going to buy them again and again. I know I have, but I won't be giving Steve Jobs Apple any of my cash.
