57 Years Ago, The Beatles Released Their Last Recorded Album. Here’s Why the Band Split the Following Year

Caroline BlairSat, September 26, 2026 at 10:30 AM UTC

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The Beatles in 1963.Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty -

The Beatles recorded their final album, Abbey Road, in 1969

One month after their split, they shared their final album, Let It Be, which had been recorded earlier but experienced production delays

The English rock band announced they had broken up for good in April 1970

Over the course of a decade, The Beatles became one of the most influential bands of all time.

The English rock group — which was comprised of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — was initially formed in 1960 before they started skyrocketing to fame two years later. For the next several years, The Beatles reached new heights of stardom and popularity, known as “Beatlemania.”

The Beatles went on to release several bestselling albums, from Rubber Soul to Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, and toured across the world. In 1966, they completed a U.S. Tour that ultimately ended up being their last together. The following year, the group experienced tragedy when their beloved manager, Brian Epstein, died.

However, the group continued working together making music, and released the classic album Abbey Roadnearly 60 years ago on Sept. 26, 1969. The album ultimately became the last one they recorded together — Let It Be was released later but recorded earlier— before they broke up for good in April 1970.

“It was a bit of a drag it broke up even though we all wanted it. We had been working steady for eight years and we’d been these brothers,” Starr said in an interview on Private Sessions in February 2008. “We all wanted it. We’d all grown up a little more, and we weren’t prepared to put in the time and energy for each other.”

Here’s everything to know about The Beatles’ last album and why they broke up shortly afterward.

What was the last album The Beatles released before they split up?

Abbey Road The Beatles.Credit: Apple Records

The Beatles released their last album, Let It Be, on May 8, 1970, nearly one month after their public breakup.

Let It Be — which included hit songs like “Let It Be,” “Get Back” and “The Long and Winding Road” — reached the top of the charts across the U.K. and the U.S. and exceeded 13 million copies sold worldwide, according to Chartmasters.

Although Let It Be was the last album The Beatles released, it was recorded by January 1969, making it the second-to-last album they recorded before their breakup, according to Rolling Stone. In early 1969, the group pivoted to another album, Abbey Road.

From February to August 1969, The Beatles prioritized Abbey Road and released it the following month on Sept. 26. The album — which included hits like “Here Comes the Sun,” “Come Together” and “Something” — marked the final time The Beatles actually recorded together.

When did The Beatles break up for good?

Beatles on the rooftop of their Apple headquarters giving their last ever performance together in London.Credit: Freddie Reed/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty

The Beatles had a rocky final year due to personal, creative and professional differences before they ultimately broke up for good on April 10, 1970.

However, the group had actually suffered fractures with various members beginning in 1968. Starr was the first person to express frustrations with the band when he walked off in the middle of recording The White Album, according to Far Out Magazine.

Starr later explained in the 1995 documentary The Beatles Anthology that he felt left out by the other three members. Although he expressed an interest in leaving the band, Starr instead took some time off and was later convinced to return.

“That time was pretty stressful because I had left the Beatles. I couldn’t take it anymore,” he told PEOPLE in 2019. “[The other Beatles] were sending me messages: ‘Come on home.’ When I got back and I went to the studio, George had put flowers everywhere. It was beautiful.”

The second person to try to leave the band was Harrison when he also walked out of the recording studio while they were disagreeing over the song “Get Back” in January 1969. He reportedly butted heads with McCartney over his role in the song and felt like he was taking over, per the 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back.

“It’s like George said, he didn’t get enough satisfaction anymore, because of the compromise he had to make to be together,” Lennon recalled in the documentary.

Right before The Beatles released Abbey Road, Lennon privately told The Beatles he was leaving during a meeting with their management on Sept. 20, 1969.

“Good old John – he had to blurt it out. And that was it. There’s not a lot you can say to, ‘I’m leaving the group,’ from a key member,” McCartney recalled in The Beatles Anthology. “I didn’t really know what to say. We had to react to him doing it; he had control of the situation. I remember him saying, ‘It’s weird this, telling you I’m leaving the group, but in a way it’s very exciting.’ ”

However, it wasn’t until April 10, 1970, that McCartney publicly announced The Beatles had disbanded.

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Why did The Beatles break up?

The Beatles perform ‘Rain’ and ‘Paperback Writer’ on BBC TV show ‘Top Of The Pops’ in London on 16th June 1966.Credit: Mark and Colleen Hayward/Redferns

In addition to three of the four members temporarily quitting in their final year, there were a myriad of factors that contributed to the breakup. Several members of The Beatles ultimately related to naturally growing apart both personally and professionally.

“[The Beatles] happened, and it was good, but it was also good to carry on and do something else. In fact, it was a relief,” Harrison said onThe Dick Cavett Show in November 1971. “Some people can’t understand that because Beatles was such a big deal. They can’t understand why we should actually enjoy splitting up.”

He added, “But there’s a time when people grow up and leave home or whatever they do and go through change, and it was really time for change.”

However, some of the bandmates insinuated that Lennon’s marriage to Yoko Ono and her active presence in the group may have caused tension.

“I must admit we’d known it was coming at some point because of his intense involvement with Yoko,” McCartney recalled in Anthology. “John needed to give space to his and Yoko’s thing. Someone like John would want to end The Beatles period and start the Yoko period; and he wouldn’t like either to interfere with the other.”

Both Lennon and Ono denied their marriage played a role in the split and attributed it to each artist making a name for themselves.

“She didn’t split The Beatles because how could one girl split The Beatles. ... [We] were drifting apart on their own,” Lennon said on The Dick Cavett Show in September 1971. “A long time ago, I said that I didn’t want to be singing ‘She Loves You’ when I’m 30. I said that when I was about 25 ... which in a roundabout way meant I wouldn’t be doing whatever I was doing then.”

Ono added, “Especially for John, I can say that he’s at least [outgrown] whatever they were in. I think it’s very difficult for four artists who are so brilliant and talented to be together and do everything together ... just impossible almost. So whatever they were doing was almost miraculous.”

Another challenge for the group occurred in 1967 when their longtime manager Epstein suddenly died. Many of the members struggled personally, as well as being able to understand their business going forward.

“Ever since Mr. Epstein passed away it’s never been the same,” Harrison said in an old clip featured in The Beatles: Get Back.

McCartney agreed and added, “We’ve been very negative since Mr. Epstein passed away and that’s why all of us in turn has been sick of the group. It’s discipline we lack. We’ve never had discipline. We’ve had sort of slight, symbolic discipline, but Mr. Epstein, he sort of said, ‘Get suits on’ and we did. And so we were always sort of fighting that discipline a bit. There really is no one there now to say, ‘Do it.’ ”

Did The Beatles ever record more music together?

The Beatles at Apple Studios in January 1969.Credit: Ethan A. Russell/Apple Corps Ltd.

The Beatles performed together for the final time on a London rooftop on Jan. 30, 1969.

After The Beatles permanently disbanded in 1970, they never all recorded together. All four members went on to launch successful solo careers, but Lennon’s was tragically cut short when he was fatally shot on Dec. 8, 1980.

Over a decade after the loss of their bandmate, McCartney, Harrison and Starr reunited to work on the multimedia retrospective, The Beatles Anthology — which also included the groundbreaking 1995 documentary series that included interviews with the three living members.

In addition to the documentary, the three also released three new songs — “Free as a Bird,” “Real Love” and “Now and Then” — that featured unreleased vocal and piano demos by Lennon.

Beyond their major reunion, several members occasionally played or recorded together. Harrison maintained professional relationships with all three other bandmates until he died from cancer in November 2001.

As the two remaining living members of The Beatles, McCartney and Starr have continued working together and being friends. In December 2024, the two reunited onstage for the first time in five years to perform “Helter Skelter” at McCartney’s show in London.

“With John and George not here, I think we realize nothing lasts forever,” McCartney told The New York Times in July 2025. “So we grasp onto what we have now because we realize that it’s very special. It’s something hardly anyone else has. In fact, in our case, it’s something no one else has. There’s only me and Ringo, and we’re the only people who can share those memories.”

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