Released in the US in June of 1967, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by The Beatles. It spent 27 weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart and 15 weeks at number one in the US. It won four Grammy Awards in 1968, including Album of the Year, the first rock LP to receive this honor.
In 2003, the Library of Congress placed Sgt. Pepper in the National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". That year, Rolling Stone ranked it number one in its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". As of 2011, it has sold more than 32 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums. Professor Kevin J. Dettmar, writing in the Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature, described it as "the most important and influential rock and roll album ever recorded."
In honor of the album's 56th anniversary, check out Paul & Ringo performing the title track (above), and the epic "A Day In The Life," below.