Paul McCartney’s ‘McCartney III Imagined’ Hits No.1
The project features contributions from Beck, Anderson .Paak, Phoebe Bridgers, and more.
Paul McCartney’s remix album McCartney III Imagined has re-entered at No.1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Aug. 7) for its first week at the top, following its release on physical formats on July 23.
The album sold 21,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending July 29, according to MRC Data, due in large part to its release on CD, vinyl LP, and cassette tape. The album is a collection of remixed songs from McCartney’s last studio album, the December 2020 release McCartney III, and was initially released via digital download and streaming services on April 16, 2021.
Upon its digital release in April, McCartney III Imagined moved The New York Times to say “Don’t take Paul McCartney’s enduring gifts — natural melody, succinctly surprising lyrics, sly chord progressions, tidy arrangements — for granted. Other songwriters don’t.” Personally curated by Paul, the album features an eclectic all-star lineup featuring Damon Albarn, Beck, Anderson .Paak, Blood Orange, Phoebe Bridgers, EOB, Dominic Fike, Josh Homme, Khruangbin, St. Vincent, and 3D RDN of Massive Attack, each covering and/or reimagining their favorite moments from Paul’s acclaimed McCartney III album in their own signature styles.
The result is a kaleidoscopic reinterpretation – one that serves as an extension of the instantly beloved McCartney III while standing on its own as a thrilling and adventurous milestone in the McCartney discography. Physical editions of McCartney III Imagined include the exclusive bonus track “Long Tailed Winter Bird (Idris Elba Remix).”
Imagined is first remix album to reach No.1 since Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never: The Remixes spent one week at No.1 on the March 5, 2011-dated chart. (The set largely consisted of reworkings of songs from Bieber’s 2010 My World 2.0 album.) Among Bieber’s seven total No.1s on Top Album Sales, he also notched a No.1 with Believe: Acoustic, on Feb. 16, 2013―a set of acoustic performances of songs from his 2012 Believe album.
