Ananova:

Copies of the new Beatles album 1 have been selling steadily throughout the day, a spokesman for HMV has told Ananova.

"We had about 120 people turn up for the midnight opening in Liverpool. London wasn't quite so big.

"But we expect this to be a long-selling album, you tend to find the die-hard Beatles fans turn up on the first day of release and the other fans will come out and buy it over the next few weeks.

"It'll definitely be number one this weekend and I expect it'll probably be the Christmas number one too.

"You have to remember it's an album of 27 previously released tracks, but then again how many albums contain 27 number ones?"

Early indications suggest the album will shoot to the top of the chart.

HMV report that the album is outselling its nearest rival, the Oasis live release, Familiar To Millions, by three to one.

And so far it is selling five times as many copies as Westlife's Coast To Coast album, which rocketed to number one yesterday, at the firm's stores.

A spokesman for HMV said: "It's absolutely massive. Even though it's a greatest hits and most fans have every single track, it's selling phenomenally well."

Meanwhile, the new Beatles website which was due to be launched today still hasn't gone live. A spokesman for Apple Records told Ananova: "It will go live today, I think we're just waiting for America to wake up".