''The Number Ones'' is a compilation album of hits by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

released in 1983 by

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

on the

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

Records label in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is a localised version of the 1982 compilation album '' 20 Greatest Hits''.

Background

To reflect Australia's differing tastes, EMI Australia issued its own version of ''20 Greatest Hits''. As The Beatles had 23 number ones in Australia, the title was aptly changed to ''The Number Ones''. However, not all tracks would fit into a standard vinyl LP, so three tracks ("Love Me Do", "I Feel Fine" and "Rock and Roll Music") were added as a bonus EP that came with the original album. The Australian album is unique as it is the only album release of the original 1963 stereo mix of "I Want To Hold Your Hand". This was only previously available on a 1976 Australian reissue of the original single. This stereo mix of the song has never been officially released on compact disc or any other digital format.

Release

The album was released May 1983 on both LP and cassette. It spent one week at the top of the Australian album charts in 1983. Due to timing problems, EMI included a three-track bonus EP (A-980) with the 20-track LP. Without the same length limitations, the cassette version contains all 23 tracks. ''The Number Ones'' stayed in print in Australia until 1991. It was deleted (with other Australian only compilations) when EMI Australia ceased vinyl production. It was never released on compact disc.

Track listing

LP Version

Cassette version

Chart positions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Number Ones, The 1983 greatest hits albums Albums produced by George Martin Albums recorded at Apple Studios Albums recorded at Trident Studios The Beatles compilation albums Compilation albums of number-one songs EMI Records compilation albums