In pictures: The seven-inch single

		Historic singles The 45 rpm single has reached its 60th anniversary and despite repeated predictions of its demise, sales are rising once again. The first seven-inch was released by RCA in the US on 31 March 1949. But EMI's Abbey Road studios in London, where many iconic UK singles were recorded and mastered, can trace its history back even further, to 1931. Many of EMI's classic hits, by the Beatles and others, line the walls of the studio corridors.