"Remaster them, and they will be bought" may now be the mantra at EMI after the success of the Beatles remastering project. According to figures from the company, the new versions of the 14 Fab Four albums have sold more than 2.25m copies around the world following their release on Sept. 9.

Available both as individual albums but also in highly-collectible mono and stereo box sets, the albums predictably sold like proverbial hot cakes around the world, especially in the Beatlemanic territories of the US, UK and Japan.

In the UK, the albums sold 345,000 copies in the first 11 days. The Beatles set a record for the most albums by one artist in the UK top 75 at the same time, the UK Official Charts Company said. In last week's album chart the Beatles had four albums in the top 10, seven in the top 40, and a whopping 16 in the top 75.

The fact all 14 remastered versions of the albums were released at the same time may have split the Beatles-buying vote, however -- the Beatles couldn't claim number one in the week of the albums' release, with the highest placing being number five for 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.'

In the US, the albums sold more than one million copies in their first five days of release.

EMI also said the biggest-selling remastered album had been 'Sgt Peppers...' and then 'Abbey Road,' but in Japan the box sets had been the biggest sellers.

Cheers may be going up in a few other record company boardrooms -- people may just want to buy CDs after all...