Sunday, November 16, 2008

Elvis is number 1.....as usual

The fallowing was found at Elvis News courtesy of yahoo.

Posted on the Y! Music Playlist Blog by Robert of the Radish is a playlist of the biggest selling singles of all time in the United States. The biggest selling single has sold almost twice as many as its closest competition. In 1997, Elton John released a remake of his classic 1973 song "Candle In The Wind" with new lyrics that paid homage to Diana, Princess of Wales after her untimely death. This single sold over 11 million copies in the United States. An incredible figure. Unfortunately, "Candle In The Wind" is not available for streaming via Rhapsody at this time, so it is not included in the final playlist here.
So what are the runners up to "Candle In The Wind 1997"? Well, only two have broken the 6 million mark ("A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley & "Here Without You" by 3 Doors Down"), and only 12 have cracked the 4 million mark.
Please note that I am speaking only of sales in the USA. Look for future blog posts to reveal top sellers in other countries and worldwide.
A "single" is a song recording that has been marketed for sale as a unit, usually with a second track, or "b-side". For the most part singles also appear on a full-length album and tend to be the track(s) a record company feels have the best chance for massive sales and airplay.
1. A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley 2. Here Without You - 3 Doors Down 3. Another One Bites The Dust - Queen 4. Apologize - Timbaland 5. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You - Bryan Adams 6. Hey Jude - The Beatles* 7. Hound Dog / Don't Be Cruel - Elvis Presley 8. I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston 9. Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye 10. Low - Flo Rida 11. Macarena - Los del Rio 12. Ridin' - Chamillionaire 13. We Are The World - USA For Africa** 14. Whoomp There It Is - Tag Team


Elvis pretty much blew everyone out of the water on this list with the exception of Elton John who was not on the list. Elvis was the only artist to be on this list twice. Pretty amazing that the single that did produce 6 million sold was ALLC in 2002, was 25 years after Elvis' death. One single 25 years later sold more than most singers in a lifetime! Elvis' two singles in the top seven came 46 years apart. That's pretty impressive as well. Talk about longevity.Good to see a list where Elvis is getting some credit unlike other list that play with numbers to make certain artist higher up(see Billboards lists) or magazines with their own agenda(see Rolling Stone magazine) who have BS lists of artist or achievements. That's another rant for another day though!

1 comment:

Keith said...

That's why Elvis is definitely the King!