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Beatles-Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth by the English band . Released on 26 May 1967, it spent 27 weeks at number one on the chart in the United Kingdom and 15 weeks at number one on the chart in the United States. It was lauded by critics for its innovations in songwriting, production and graphic design, for bridging a cultural divide between and , and for reflecting the interests of and . Its release was a defining moment in 1960s pop culture, heralding the , while the album's reception achieved full cultural legitimisation for pop music and recognition for the medium as a genuine art form.

At the end of August 1966, the Beatles permanently retired from touring and pursued individual interests for the next three months. During a return flight to in November, had an idea for a song involving an military band that formed the impetus of the Sgt. Pepper concept. Sessions began on 24 November at with compositions inspired by the Beatles' youth, but after pressure from , the songs "" and "" were released as a single in February 1967 and left off the LP.

The album was loosely conceptualised as a performance by the fictional Sgt. Pepper band, an idea that was conceived after recording . A key work of British , it incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including , , , , and and classical music. The band continued the technological experimentation marked by their previous album, , this time without an absolute deadline for completion. With producer and engineer , the group coloured much of the recordings with sound effects and tape manipulation, as exemplified on "", "" and "". Recording was completed on 21 April. The cover, which depicts the Beatles posing in front of a , was designed by the and .

Sgt. Pepper is regarded by musicologists as an early that advanced the roles of sound composition, , psychedelic imagery, , and the producer in popular music. The album had an immediate cross-generational impact and was associated with numerous touchstones of the era's youth culture, such as fashion, drugs, , and a sense of optimism and empowerment. It is considered one of the first LPs, a progenitor to , and the start of the . In 1968, it won four , including , the first rock to receive this honour; in 2003 it was inducted into the by the . It has topped several critics' and listeners' polls for the best album of all time, including those published by magazine and in the book , and the UK's "" poll. It remains one of the of all time and the UK's best-selling studio album, with more than 32 million copies sold worldwide as of 2011.