Hey Jude will never forget Paul's gesture of care and concern in coming to see us." The song's original title was "Hey Jules", and it was intended to comfort Julian Lennon from the stress of his parents' separation. McCartney later said, "I knew it was not going to be easy for him", and that he changed the name to "Jude" "because I thought that sounded a bit better". According to music journalist Chris Hunt, in the weeks after writing the song, McCartney "test[ed] his latest composition on anyone too polite to refuse. And that meant "everyone"." On 30 June, after recording the
Hey Jude hit for the band in America, tying Elvis Presley's record at the time for most number-one songs there. "Billboard" ranked it as the number-one song for 1968. In the UK, where "MacArthur Park" had failed to top the chart, "Hey Jude" remained the longest number-one hit for nearly a quarter of a century. It was surpassed in 1993 by Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)", which ran to 7:52 as a single. On 30 November 1968, "NME" reported that sales had reached nearly six million copies worldwide. "Hey Jude" became the biggest-selling debut release