Need Ed Sheeran knocked from number one? Call in The Beatles

It was fifty years ago today (well, this week) when Sgt. Pepper first taught the band to play, with The Beatles' dizzying 1967 opus being released to a stunned audience who either saw the album as proof positive the band had gone off the deep end, or quickly realised it was a groundbreaking, historical feat of art, musicianship, and moxie. Then there were others who probably liked that catchy Better Homes and Garden one, too, and skipped George's silly Indian-sounding one.

Either way, the album rocketed to the top of the UK charts on June 10, spending 27 non-consecutive weeks at #1, being bumped off the top every now and then by The Sound of Music soundtrack, just in case you want Britain in '67 and '68 to seem any more quaint.

Fast forward through AIDS, MTV and iPods to 2017 where the album is looking certain to knock Ed Sheeran's Divide from the top of the UK album charts. Sgt. Pepper's has sold 24,000 units during the first half of the UK sales week, trouncing Ed's sales.

It's rather nice to see Sgt. Pepper dominating the charts again - making half a century's progress seem like nothing at all, really. Put on 'A Day In The Life' is tell me the '60s weren't the future.