We’ve been out of the country for three and a half weeks and hadn’t been aware that the fiftieth anniversary release of the Beatles’ Abbey Road album has caused a worldwide resurgence in Beatlemania.
But it’s happened even here in Argentina and Chile where it’s damn near all Beatles all the time. They’re on the radio non-stop. They’re being played in every store and every restaurant. I haven’t heard the Beatles this often since they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show back in 1964.
As the Beatles’ Abbey Road 50th anniversary edition starts to climb the charts, new streaming statistics reveal for the first time how the band is appealing to a younger audience. The 1960s group has had 1.7 billion Spotify streams this year so far. The age-group streaming the music is not the baby boomers that fueled Beatlemania, but rather, two generations removed, including many teenagers.
As Jamie will surely attest, every time I hear a Beatles song I say, “I think this is my favorite Beatles song.” That proclamation lasts only until I hear the next one.
My idols in the 60’s