Legacy
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in March 1999, in 1979 Guinness World Records described McCartney as "the Most Successful Composer and Recording Artist of All Time", with 60 gold discs (42 with the Beatles, 17 solo and 1 with the Beatles and Billy Preston) and sales of 100 million albums, 100 million singles, and a writer's credit on forty-three songs that have sold over one million copies each.[368] He has written or co-written "188 charted records, of which 129 are different songs. Of these records, 91 reached the Top 10 and 33 made it to number 1.[clarification needed] In total, the songs have spent 1,662 weeks in the charts (up to the beginning of 2007)."[369]
McCartney has written, or co-written 32 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100: twenty with the Beatles; seven solo and/or with Wings; one as a co-writer of "A World Without Love", a number-one single for Peter and Gordon; one as a co-writer on Elton John's cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"; one as a co-writer on Stars on 45's "Medley"; one as a co-writer with Michael Jackson on "Say Say Say"; and one as a co-writer with Stevie Wonder on "Ebony and Ivory".[370] As of 2014, he has sold 15.5 million RIAA certified units in the United States.[371]
Credited with more number ones in the UK than any other artist, McCartney has participated in twenty-four chart topping singles: seventeen with the Beatles, one solo, and one each with Wings, Stevie Wonder, Ferry Aid, Band Aid, Band Aid 20 and "The Christians et al."[372][nb 48] He is the only artist to reach the UK number one as a soloist ("Pipes of Peace"), duo ("Ebony and Ivory" with Wonder), trio ("Mull of Kintyre", Wings), quartet ("She Loves You", the Beatles), quintet ("Get Back", the Beatles with Billy Preston) and as part of a musical ensemble for charity (Ferry Aid).[374]
"Yesterday" is the most covered song in history with more than 2,200 recorded versions, and according to the BBC, "the track is the only one by a UK writer to have been aired more than seven million times on American TV and radio and is third in the all-time list ... [and] is the most played song by a British writer [last] century in the US".[375] His 1968 Beatles composition, "Hey Jude", is also a career highlight. It achieved the highest sales in the UK that year, topping the US charts for nine weeks, longer than any other Beatles single. It was also the longest single released by the band, and at seven minutes eleven seconds, the longest ever number one to that point.[376] "Hey Jude" is the best-selling Beatles single, achieving sales of over five million copies soon after its release.[377][nb 49]
In July 2005, McCartney's performance of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with U2 at Live 8 became the fastest-released single in history. Available within forty-five minutes of its recording, hours later it had achieved number one on the UK Official Download Chart.[172]
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