Artist Elvis Presley Label RCA Records | Release date 21 October 2016 Genre Orchestral pop | |
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Released October 21, 2016 (2016-10-21) Recorded Abbey Road Studios, London, England. Producer Nick Patrick, Don Reedman (also exec.), Priscilla Presley (exec.) Similar Elvis Presley albums, Rock music albums | ||
The Wonder of You is a compilation album by American singer Elvis Presley (1935–77). It was released on October 21, 2016 by RCA Records and Legacy Recordings. The album features archival vocal recordings of Elvis accompanied by new orchestral arrangements by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded at the Abbey Road Studios. It also features a duet with German singer Helene Fischer.
Contents
It is the follow-up album to If I Can Dream (2015), which was a commercial success, selling 1.6 million copies worldwide. Elvis's ex-wife Priscilla Presley has said of The Wonder of You: "Elvis always loved the great, operatic vocalists. We often talked about his interest in recording material that allowed him to perform in that space. It's exciting to hear him on these recordings, performing with the world-class Royal Philharmonic Orchestra via the magic of Abbey Road Studios. He would have loved these performances and I'm very happy that we were able to make this dream come true for Elvis and his fans."
Commercial performance
The album debuted at #1 on the UK Albums Chart earning a BPI Silver award in its debut week with sales of 63,500. The following 20 weeks it registered, inter alia, weekly sales of 35,456, 28,590, 29,647, 32,261, 44,446, 54,011, 60,979, 73,461, 35,915, 15,983, 9,575, 3,540, 1,900, 1,300 and 1,000 thus totalling sales of 500,000 units while landing at #2, #3, #5, #5, #3, #4, #4, #3, #3, #4 , #7, #17, #32, #48, #61, #70 and #96, respectively, and earning a BPI Gold and Platinum certification. It is Elvis' 13th UK number-one album, making him the solo artist with most UK number-one albums (and overall only behind The Beatles with 15 number-one albums). Elvis also extended the record for most UK top 10 albums, with The Wonder of You becoming his 52nd top 10 album. It became the year's 5th top selling album, and the biggest seller by a US artist, the top four being Adele "25", Coldplay's "A Head Full Of Dreams", Justin Bieber's "Purpose", and Michael Ball & Alfie Boe's "Together" (three UK artists and a Canadian). Finally, it was also the #2 album released in the UK in 2016, after "Together" and by extension, the top selling album released in 2016 by a non UK artist.
In the United States, the album debuted at #1 in the Billboard Classical Chart, making it Presley's second stay at the top on that chart, after last year's "If I can dream". It has thus far remained inside that chart's Top 20 for 20 weeks.
Worldwide, and according to the Mediatraffic Global Chart Report March 8, 2017, the album has thus far sold 715,000 units.
Track listing
Songs
1A Big Hunk o’ LoveRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra2:22
2I’ve Got a Thing About You BabyRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra2:36
3Suspicious MindsRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra3:46