The Beatles chased the new and we keep buying the old

Sun, 18 Oct 2026 15:39:12 +1100

The Beatles (L-R) Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon at the BBC Television Studios in London before the start of their world tour, 17 June 1966. Central Press/Getty Images

The best-selling vinyl album in Britain last week was recorded in 1965.

That is Rubber Soul, back on the charts after the 2 October reissue I wrote about earlier this month. The Official Charts Company says it shifted more vinyl than any other album over the past seven days.

The headline needs a qualifier. It did not top the main album charts in Britain, Australia or the United States. It reached No. 2 in the UK, No. 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart and No. 4 on the Billboard 200. What it won were the specialist charts: Top Rock Albums, Top Album Sales and Vinyl Albums in the US per Billboard, the vinyl chart in the UK and ARIA’s On Replay catalogue chart here.

Fame that outlasts everything

In the week ending 8 October, Billboard reports, Rubber Soul moved 58,000 equivalent album units in the US. That included 50,000 sales, 24,000 of them on vinyl. Billboard counts every version of the album together, so this is not all box set money.

Australia has history with this record. ARIA notes that it spent 11 weeks at No. 1 here in 1966. Six decades later it is back at No. 4.

I am a fan and I won’t pretend otherwise. The songs earned this. Nobody is being fooled into buying “In My Life”.

What they did with all that fame

Here is the part that nags at me. Rubber Soul was recorded across 13 studio days to meet a Christmas deadline and released on 3 December 1965. Ringo called it the “departure record." It was already a break from what came before.

Then they did it again. Revolver reached shops on 5 August 1966 and sounded nothing like Rubber Soul. Sgt. Pepper followed in 1967 and sounded nothing like either. Three albums across about 18 months, no two alike.

Look at the photo again. It was taken on 17 June 1966, seven weeks before Revolver came out.

They were the biggest band on earth and they spent that standing on breaking new ground. They wanted every record to be fresh and different, and the audience rewarded them for it.

That is what fascinates me. The Beatles could have played safe. Their enormous commercial success gave them every reason to repeat a winning formula. Instead, they used that success to buy themselves the freedom to experiment. Each hit gave them the confidence, and the commercial leverage, to make something stranger.

Today, much of the entertainment industry seems to work in reverse. Rather than using commercial success to finance creative risk, it uses creative familiarity to reduce commercial risk.

Take the cinema.

The safe and the old

Of the ten highest-grossing films released worldwide in 2025, by The Numbers' list, nine are sequels, remakes, reboots or adaptations: Ne Zha 2, Zootopia 2, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Lilo & Stitch, A Minecraft Movie, Jurassic World Rebirth, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, How to Train Your Dragon and Superman. The lone exception is F1, an original fictional story built around one of the world’s most recognisable sporting brands.

That complicates my rant, so in fairness: original films are not dead. Sinners and Weapons both found substantial audiences in 2025. But neither cracked the worldwide top ten. That is where the pattern becomes hard to ignore. Nine of the year’s ten biggest films arrived with a familiar title, established characters or an existing audience.

Viewing habits offer another clue. Luminate’s 2026 midyear report found that American television viewers estimate spending nearly 60% of their viewing time on programmes more than a year old. That includes discovering older shows for the first time, of course. But it demonstrates how much of our attention goes to established catalogues rather than the latest releases.

My guess, and it is only a guess: when choice is infinite, familiarity is the cheapest filter. A known name is a bet nobody regrets. Even the Rubber Soul box is a label’s idea of a low-risk release: famous title, finished product, a fresh coat of paint.

Perhaps we have grown less adventurous. Or perhaps an industry terrified of failure has simply become much better at selling us what we already know.

None of that makes the Beatles wrong to sell well. It makes the rest of us a little too comfortable.

In 1965 the Beatles had every reason to repeat themselves and refused. The least we can do is spend one night this week on something we have never heard of.

Sources:

The Beatles' ‘Rubber Soul’ Reaches No. 1 on Top Rock Albums Chart - Billboard
Landmark album Rubber Soul released as expanded special edition - thebeatles.com
Worldwide box office, films released in 2025 - The Numbers
Original Screenplay market share - The Numbers

Rambling Rows

The Beatles chased the new and we keep buying the old

Fame that outlasts everything

What they did with all that fame

The safe and the old