How many songs did The Beatles officially release?

How to get close to this number

Multiply albums by tracks. This site's companion question puts the studio catalogue at thirteen albums across roughly seven years, and an album of that era held twelve to fourteen tracks. Thirteen albums plus singles and non-album tracks gives a total in the low hundreds.

The rate is the remarkable part, and the explanation states it: roughly a song every fortnight for eight years. That output would be notable for a full-time writer with no other obligations; sustaining it while touring constantly, making films and being the most photographed people alive is the part that does not compute.

The catalogue size is also why the band remains commercially ubiquitous. Two hundred-odd songs is small enough to be completely known by fans and large enough to sustain endless reissues, compilations and remasters — a body of work that can be repackaged indefinitely without ever exhausting itself.