Editing The Beatles (album) (section)

==Release==
===Packaging===
''The Beatles'' was issued on 22 November 1968 in Britain{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=163}} and three days later in the US.{{sfn|Castleman|Podrazik|1976|p=70}} It was the third album to be released by Apple Records, following Harrison's ''[[Wonderwall Music]]'' and Lennon and Ono's ''[[Two Virgins]]''.{{sfn|Castleman|Podrazik|1976|p=291}} The record was referred to as "the White Album" immediately upon release.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=113}}

[[Conceptual art]]ist [[Richard Hamilton (artist)|Richard Hamilton]] designed the record sleeve{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=163}} in collaboration with McCartney.{{sfn|Miles|Scott|Morgan|2008|p=50}} Hamilton's design was in stark contrast to [[Pop art]]ists [[Peter Blake (artist)|Peter Blake's]] and [[Jann Haworth|Jann Haworth's]]<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3TZbNn59V1tMCx3dXXlf2BK/jann-haworth-the-forgotten-creator-of-the-sgt-pepper-cover] Jann Haworth: The forgotten creator of the Sgt. Pepper cover, 17 May 2017, BBC</ref> elaborate and vivid cover art for ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'', and consisted of a plain white sleeve. The band's name, in [[Helvetica]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Just My Type: A Book About Fonts |last=Garfield |first=Simon |page=275 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-101-57781-3}}</ref> was crookedly [[paper embossing#Blind emboss|blind embossed]] slightly below the middle of the album's right side.<ref>{{cite book |title=Britain Since 1945: Aspects of Identity |first=Peter |last=Leese |page=94 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-230-20836-0}}</ref> Later [[Gramophone record|vinyl record]] releases in the US showed the title in grey printed (rather than embossed) letters.{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=504}} Each copy of the record featured a unique stamped [[serial number]], "to create", in Hamilton's words, "the [[irony|ironic]] situation of a numbered edition of something like five million copies".{{sfn|Miles|Scott|Morgan|2008|p=52}} The first four numbered copies were given to the members of the band, making number 0000005 the first copy sold publicly; in 2008, it was purchased for £19,201 on [[eBay]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/rare-beatles-white-album-sells-for-30k-184157 |title=Rare Beatles 'White Album' sells for $30k |first=Tom |last=Porter |journal=[[MusicRadar]] |date=24 November 2008 |access-date=24 June 2014}}</ref> In 2015, Ringo Starr's copy, number 0000001, sold for a world record $790,000 at auction.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ringo-starrs-personal-white-album-sells-for-world-record-910-000-20151205|title=Ringo Starr's Personal 'White Album' Sells for World Record $790,000|first=Daniel|last=Kreps|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=5 December 2015|access-date=6 December 2015}}</ref> In an interview on the Impossible Way of Life podcast, it was first revealed by members of [[Hotline TNT]] that the winner of the auction was [[Jack White]] and that the album is currently held in the vault at the headquarters of [[Third Man Records]] in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville, TN]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Impossible Way of Life - Episode 356 "Life At Third Man (Ft. Hotline TNT)" |url=https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-356-life-111387762}}</ref>

The sleeve included a poster comprising a montage of photographs, with the lyrics of the songs on the back, and a set of four photographic portraits taken by John Kelly.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=207}} The photographs for the poster were assembled by Hamilton and McCartney, who sorted them in a variety of ways over several days before arriving at the final result.{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=504}}

During production, the album had the working title of ''A Doll's House''. This was changed when the English [[progressive rock]] band [[Family (band)|Family]] released the similarly titled ''[[Music in a Doll's House]]'' earlier that year.{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=286}}

===Sales===
In the UK, ''The Beatles'' debuted at number one on 7 December 1968<ref name="officialcharts">{{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/all-the-number-one-albums-list/_/1968/|title=All The Number One Albums : 1968|publisher=Official Charts Company|access-date=15 July 2014}}</ref> and spent seven weeks at the top of the UK charts (including the entire competitive Christmas season),<ref name="officialcharts"/> until it was replaced by [[the Seekers]]' ''Best of the Seekers'' on 25 January 1969, dropping to number 2. However, the album returned to the top spot the following week, spending an eighth and final week at number 1.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/all-the-number-one-albums-list/_/1969/ |title=1969 The Number One Albums |publisher=Official Chart Company |access-date=15 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005133552/http://www.officialcharts.com/all-the-number-one-albums-list/_/1969/ |archive-date=5 October 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref> The album was still high in the charts when the Beatles' follow-up album, ''Yellow Submarine'', was released, which reached number 3. In all, ''The Beatles'' spent 22 weeks on the UK charts, far fewer than the 149 weeks for ''Sgt. Pepper''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2009/sep/09/beatles-albums-singles-music-rock-band|title=The Beatles: every album and single, with its chart position|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=9 September 2009|access-date=15 July 2014}}</ref> In September 2013, after the [[British Phonographic Industry]] changed their sales award rules, the album was declared as having gone [[Music recording sales certification|platinum]], meaning sales of at least 300,000 copies.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23927271 | title=Beatles albums finally go platinum | work=BBC News | access-date=4 September 2013}}</ref>

In the US, the album achieved huge commercial success. [[Capitol Records]] sold over 3.3&nbsp;million copies of ''The Beatles'' to stores within the first four days of the album's release.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Beatles Record-Busting LP May Be All-Time Biggest|magazine=Rolling Stone|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thebeatles/articles/story/5933721/beatles_recordbusting_lp_may_be_alltime_biggest|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113154350/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thebeatles/articles/story/5933721/beatles_recordbusting_lp_may_be_alltime_biggest|archive-date=13 January 2009|url-status=dead|access-date=21 February 2013}}</ref> It debuted at number 11 on 14 December 1968,<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_kQEAAAAMBAJ&q=billboard+21+december+1968|title=Top LPs & Tapes|magazine=Billboard|date=14 December 1968|page=70|access-date=15 July 2015}}</ref> jumped to number 2, and reached number 1 in its third week on 28 December,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Top LPs & Tapes |magazine=Billboard|date=28 December 1968|page=54| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b0UEAAAAMBAJ|access-date=2 April 2014}}</ref> spending a total of nine weeks at the top. In all, ''The Beatles'' spent 215 weeks on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y8vKoEsPMqsC&pg=PA179|title=Heritage Music & Entertainment Auction #7006|journal=[[Heritage Auctions]]|publisher=Heritage Capital Corporation|page=179|isbn=978-1-59967-369-1}}</ref> The album has sold over 12&nbsp;million copies in the US alone<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database | title=Searchable Database of Gold and Platinum Awards | publisher=RIAA| access-date=2 April 2014}} Note that the RIAA counts each record of a double album separately, meaning ''The Beatles'' is certified 24 times platinum, for 12 million units sold.</ref> and according to the [[Recording Industry Association of America]], ''The Beatles'' is the Beatles' most-certified album, at 24-times [[Music recording sales certification|platinum]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Beatles%22 |title=Gold & Platinum: Beatles |publisher=[[Recording Industry Association of America]] |access-date=17 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016124253/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Beatles%22 |archive-date=16 October 2015 }}</ref>