How Many Studio Albums Did the Beatles Make?

The correct answer to this, taking into account U.K. LPs from the Beatles era (1962-1970), would be twelve. U.S. LPs in this case would not count per se, as the Beatles did not compile them (Capitol Records did) and often they had a difficult time recalling their contents when playing songs to American audiences ("It's on Beatles VI...I think"). These twelve LPs include:

• Please Please Me (22 March 1963)
• With The Beatles (22 November 1963)
• A Hard Day's Night (10 July 1964)
• Beatles for Sale (4 December 1964)
• Help! (6 August 1965)
• Rubber Soul (3 December 1965)
• Revolver (5 August 1966)
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1 June 1967)
• The Beatles (22 November 1968)
• Yellow Submarine (17 January 1969)
• Abbey Road (26 September 1969)
• Let It Be (8 May 1970)

For the CD era, EMI decided to complete the Beatles' collection by issuing the above titles plus Magical Mystery Tour, Past Masters Volume 1 and Past Masters Volume 2. Magical Mystery Tour was originally a 1967 LP released in the U.S. only (until Parlophone issued it in 1976; the Beatles originally issued the film's soundtrack as a double EP). Past Masters is simply an EMI compilation set designed to capture singles, EPs and rarities not included on the albums listed above.