The Beatles legend recently announced he had been working on a new album, McCartney III, the long-awaited third instalment in a trilogy of self-titled albums he kicked off in 1970 with his solo debut.

Paul had planned to release the new LP on 11 December, but production problems mean fans will have to wait an extra week to hear his latest tracks.

"Unforeseeable production delays have forced the release date of Paul's all-new all-Paul album 'McCartney III' to be moved back one week to December 18, 2020," a tweet from his Twitter account reads. "Thank you to everyone for your patience, support and excitement for the album. We can't wait for you to hear it!"

Announcing the new album in October, he said: "I was living lockdown life on my farm with my family and I would go to my studio every day. I had to do a little bit of work on some film music and that turned into the opening track and then when it was done I thought what will I do next?

"I had some stuff I'd worked on over the years but sometimes time would run out and it would be left half-finished so I started thinking about what I had. Each day I'd start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up, it was a lot of fun. It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job. So, I just did stuff I fancied doing. I had no idea this would end up as an album."

The delay to the release will put the Hey Jude hitmaker in with a good chance of taking the U.K.'s Christmas album chart crown, as the chart will be announced on 25 December itself this year.