Another thing that is often mentioned is that Fleetwood Mac outsold the Beatles in singles in the UK for 1969. This was announced by Melody Maker at the end of that year, based on their system of awarding points for weeks spent on the charts at various chart positions. Fleetwood Mac had "Albatross," "Man Of The World," and "Oh Well" on the singles charts in 1969. The Beatles released "Get Back," "The Ballad Of John & Yoko," and "Something" that year ("Hey Jude," released in late summer 1968, might still have been on the charts at the beginning of the year?).
Now I'll admit that growing up in the US in the late '60s, the Beatles were everywhere on the radio and Fleetwood Mac...well, not at all that I recall, at least not on AM radio. So my view of the "outsold the Beatles" claim is colored by that, and I always found it hard to believe. But in light of what wetcamelfood has mentioned here, I suppose my question is whether Fleetwood Mac really did outsell the Beatles in 1969 in the UK - or could the sales / chart numbers also have been manipulated to their benefit? I don't really know how all that is figured - maybe someone else here can enlighten us on that.
THD - since you were there, what are your thoughts about them outselling the Beatles in singles for 1969? Do you think that was for real?
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