The Beatles scored their 20th and final number one with a piano ballad
The Long and Winding Road became the Beatles' twentieth and final number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100.
The piano ballad appeared on the band's 1970 album Let It Be and was written by Paul McCartney, credited to the Lennon-McCartney partnership. McCartney composed it at his Scotland farm in 1968, driven in part by the group's growing bitterness toward one another.
He imagined the song being performed by someone like Ray Charles. The main recording took place in January 1969 with a sparse arrangement of piano, bass, guitar, and percussion.
It closed out an unmatched run of chart-toppers.
Why it mattersIt marked the end of the most successful run of number-one singles in pop history as the band fell apart.
Open this story in InSnip →





