Singles 111 | No.1 Singles 33 | |
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The discography of Elvis Presley starts on July 19, 1954, with the release of his first commercial single, and ends in February 1978. Presley's final album, Elvis in Concert, and final two singles, "My Way" and "Unchained Melody", although released after his death are considered part of the discographical canon as they were projects Presley himself knew about in the planning stages. All other releases are included in the posthumous sections, and obviously all compact disc box sets were also released after Presley's death. Without including album reissues, during this period of 1954 to 1978 American Presley releases consisted of 108 singles, 30 extended-play singles, 70 albums on RCA Records, four albums on the Pickwick budget label, and five singles on the Sun Records label.
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RIAA certifications and sales
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) began to certify gold albums and singles in 1958, and Elvis Presley's first RIAA award, a gold single for "Hard Headed Woman", was certified on August 11, 1958. In August 1992, he was awarded with 110 gold, platinum and multi-platinum albums and singles, the largest presentation of gold and platinum record awards in history. According to Presley's record label, RCA, he is the best selling artist of all time, with sales over 1 billion records worldwide in all formats (600 million in the United States alone).
The number of hits Elvis Presley had in the US became a topic of discussion in several news articles when it was announced by Billboard magazine in April 2008 that Mariah Carey and Madonna had surpassed Elvis Presley in the number of "Number 1" and "Top Ten" hits, with 18 and 37 hits respectively.
Both of these claims were disputed by music historian Joel Whitburn and Elvis Presley Enterprises. Whitburn lists Elvis as having 18 number 1 hits (placing him in a tie with Mariah Carey at that time) and 38 top ten hits (one more than Madonna at that time). Elvis Presley Enterprises claims Elvis had 40 top ten hits. The differences depend on whether a double-sided hit single is counted as one hit single, or two hit songs.
Before the age of compact discs and digital music downloads, singles were released on vinyl 45 RPM records, with one song on each side (an A-side and a B-side or flip side). Both songs of many Elvis singles became hits and were listed on the charts. "Hound Dog / Don't Be Cruel" was a double sided hit single that topped the Billboard Sales chart for 11 weeks in 1956. At the time, "Hound Dog" was listed as the number 1 A-side for the first five weeks, and "Don't Be Cruel" was listed as the number 1 A-side for the last six weeks. Now Billboard lists it as a single double sided hit. This article lists Elvis Presley’s hits, both A-sides and B-sides, on the Billboard singles charts (Pop/Hot 100, Country, Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary, and Rhythm and Blues), as well as rival music publications, Cash Box and Record World.
Another measure of an artist’s popular impact is sales. While Elvis is recognized by many in the recording industry as the best selling artist of all time, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the U.S. recording industry’s official certifying agent for sales, stirred up controversy in November 2007 when it announced that country singer Garth Brooks had become the best selling solo artist in U.S. history.
Elvis Presley Enterprises has disputed the RIAA’s claim, pointing out several omissions in the RIAA’s figures. The RIAA bases its claim on album sales only, and does not include single sales in determining the highest selling solo artist, despite the fact that the RIAA also certifies single sales. While Elvis’ album sales are significant, his single sales were also significant as can be seen in the tables below. During much of Elvis’ career in the 1950s and 1960s, single sales were considered the primary market for the industry, while albums were a secondary market. It was not until the late 1960s and early 1970s that albums became the primary market for the industry.
RIAA does not certify sales of less than 500,000 units for albums and singles. Elvis has had numerous albums and singles which have sold hundreds of thousands of units each but have not reached the 500,000 threshold. Taken together, these could add up to millions in total sales that are not recognized by the RIAA.
RIAA sales certifications are not automatic. The record company must pay a fee and request an audit from the RIAA in order to certify sales. During Elvis’ life, RCA submitted few of Elvis’ recordings for RIAA certification. Instead of paying for RIAA certification, RCA and other companies would simply award their own “Gold Record” to artists based on their internal sales figures. As a consequence, some of Elvis’ early sales information has been lost. RCA and BMG have researched archives and old files in an effort to reconstruct Elvis’ sales figures. This has led to Elvis receiving numerous RIAA certifications posthumously.
Also included in this article is a list of Elvis’ hit extended play (EP) releases, also known as "short-form albums. EPs were smaller than a full album but contained more songs than a single; usually four songs, though some EPs had as many as eight.
International chart information
Elvis Presley had a worldwide impact on popular music and culture, as shown through his success on pop music charts throughout the world. His international success is even more remarkable considering that except for three 1957 Canadian concerts, Elvis did not perform outside of the United States.
While most of the international singles are the same as those that were released in the US, there are some singles that were international hits that were not hits in the US, such as “Party” and “Wooden Heart”.
Abbreviations for charts:
The numbers below represent the highest position for a song on each respective chart. 45 rpm singles were normally released with one song on each side, The "A-side" was generally considered to be the primary side, while the "B-side" or "flip-side" was considered secondary. Elvis frequently had both sides become hits and appear on the charts. The sides and their chart positions are distinguished by a " / ", A-side / B-side. Extended Plays (EP) usually had two songs per side and would sometimes make the singles chart. The numbers in parentheses are the number of weeks that a song remained at number 1.
1956-1958
Some countries did not develop recognized, national charts until the 1960s.
1958-1964
Elvis Presley returns from US Army duty in 1960. The focus of much of his work after his return is on his movie career and recording associated soundtracks.
1964–1967
After The Beatles' rise to worldwide fame in 1964, Elvis' chart performance falls off.
1968–1977
Elvis begins his musical comeback in late 1968 with his NBC TV Special. In 1973 his "Aloha from Hawaii" TV special is broadcast worldwide and seen by more than 1 billion viewers. He dies in 1977. Soon after his death, another TV special, "Elvis In Concert" is broadcast in the US.
1978-1999
After Elvis' death numerous singles were re-released or remixed and released.
2000-present
Elvis experiences a resurgence in popularity after the release of “Elv1s 30 Number 1 Hits” CD and the "A Little Less Conversation" remix in 2002, the 25th anniversary of his death. In anticipation of the expiration of the European copyrights on Elvis’ early recordings, BMG re-releases many of Elvis’ singles on CD. Billboard begins publishing a European Hot 100 singles chart (EUR).