As a past Chief Executive of RCA Records (Mike Ormansky) once remarked - 'it's not even close'. The recent international sales of 'Where No One Stands Alone' may be the first gospel album to suggest that this may no longer be the case. Musically, its a terrific mix of newer recordings like the chastising but flippant (Youre So Square) Baby I Dont Care and Sun tracks like Blue Moon of Kentucky (his other classic lamentation over a blue moon), and it showcases his enthusiastic inner-boy on Good Rockin Tonight and the delightfully cheery (but also menacing) entreaty Baby Lets Play House. I Forgot to Remember to Forget is another reminder that Elvis could be just as effectively sexy when silly. On the eccentric Im Yours, we have the rare experience of hearing Elvis close-harmonizing with himself over some weirdly isolated organ, providing a nicely unsettling hall-of-mirrors effect. While it was already an enormous task, that was only one part of the picture. We can read virtually anything when we talk about the number of albums the King issued in the US. The band brings a bigger ruckus here than on Elviss previous gospel outings, matching the levitating purport of songs like Ive Got Confidence to a fierce instrumental attack, and the backing singers sound possessed when counting down angels against the lockstep groove of I, John., 16. Elvis Presley was included in the History Channel's 10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America video, and I believe that his effect on race relations and popular . "It got to the point where I was driving in my car, and I thought: I just want to know if Stevie Nicks and Lindsey . Elvis Is Back! In this scattered context of cutting-room scraps, even the most ridiculous stuff like Shes a Machine and Do the Vega contributes to an entertainingly cubist rendering of the King. Although these figures should be treated with a certain degree of caution, it was only when Elvis died that things appeared to really go awry. Almost overnight, Moody Blue shot to third place in the album charts, capping his career with it becoming his best-selling studio release. 34. All rights reserved. A Date With Elvis (1959) Issued a few months after For LP Fans Only, this album was made with the same intention as its predecessor: to keep fans sated with Elvis material while he was off driving tanks in the Army. Remembering Elvis with his 10 most popular hits 1. 'A Little Less Conversation' (2002), 'Rubberneckin' (2003) etc. Opening hootenanny Stay Away, Joe has a strong stay away, listener subtext, but the next song, the soulful ballad If Im a Fool (for Loving You) draws us back in. It Happened at the Worlds Fair (1963) The soundtrack to Elviss expensive Space Needle romp begins with a bland song about going into the unknown (Beyond the Bend) followed by a remake of Fever called Relax, which advises listeners to defrost, and is set to slimy finger-snapping. Elvis doesnt quite convince you to rock out with the explicit dance instructions on the title track (clap your hands real loud and turn your head to the left) but it starts the album off with vim, which is followed by Elviss pleasant request for heavenly kisses on Angel. The rocker Easy Come, Easy Go comes and goes easily, as does this whole album, which sustains a light tone, unlike the laborious country-oriented material on Elviss other LPs from this period. Did he really sell one billion records as has been frequently claimed? The lurching Kitty White duet Crawfish leaves a sinister impression regardless of fishy lyrical content. Elvis recorded not only studio albums, but live albums and soundtracks, and released compilation albums:Studio 23Live 7Compilation 11Soundtracks 19This gives a total of 60 albums released in his name. After going through thousands of releases on Discogs, Biwa and Elvisoncd, I concluded on 341 non-promotional albums that have been sold at some point. Cant Help Falling in Love is the obvious peak, and even the silly calypso moment Ito Eats wiggles into its place. These cookies do not store any personal information. Unless, that is, you thought the originals lacked gloopy string arrangements. Mahalo from Elvis" album Side 1 had previously unissued tracks recorded in Honolulu on January 14, 1973, for inclusion in the U.S.-version of the live concert TV special Aloha from Hawaii, side 2 were previously issued recordings from various movie soundtracks. How many albums did Elvis Presley sell? And the picture is truly global. Some idea of the scale involved actually emerged through the 1977/8 interim and the final audited record company reports. 600 million albums. Of course, we already saw that assuming 250,000 sales on average for each - mid-way to Gold - is not an accurate method. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. 2. 31. The afternoon show footage is wonderful and electrifying : Here is Elvis in his prime rocking and rolling in front of 11.000 people. This insane number is made of 23 pure studio albums, 17 original soundtracks, 23 Christmas-related releases, 39 box sets, 29 live efforts, 200 compilations and 10 records tagged as other which include interviews and spoken discs. How many records did Elvis put out? If you include the soundtrack albums, Elvis had about 45 studio albums. In the UK, for example, the now long moribund 'Disc and Music Echo' pop magazine had, by the time it folded, awarded Elvis around two dozen silver discs-currently assumed to be lurking in the vaults - each for AUDITED sales of over 250,000 copies. And it was during his watch that the 'Washington Post' claim first began to appear on the back of Elvis albums and in press releases. & George Michael Popularity Analysis. These are albums which were never sold on standard retailers but instead by mail order or at Christian book stores. So whether RCA simply looked at the total sales figures up to that point, current sales, or probably both, the conclusions reached may have been the same. A huge frustration for people interested into Presleys US album sales is the lack of Soundscan data. He knew it was a stinker from the get-go. G.I. This is an excellent release no fan should be without it. Three Grammys were given to Presley, and at the age of 36, he was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Hes an impatient lover for the umpteenth time on Do Not Disturb, and chastises The Meanest Girl in Town on the closest this album gets to rock and roll. 8. After the success of Elvis's 1973 Hawaiian TV special, an album only needed to have E looking like an impassioned eagle on the cover to sell well. And that opinion was backed by Ernst Jorgensen, who should know if anyone does. Hover to zoom. This may do if you want more of what Blue Hawaii had pedal steel, tropical content but with a quarter of the charm. Beginning in 1954, he recorded at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who aimed to popularize African-American music. This year, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the release of Presleys first record, his widow, Priscilla, and RCA have put together a massive box set presenting the Kings original recording career, pretty much unabridged. Well it seems that around five years after Elvis died, a former Radio Luxembourg DJ, by the name of Don Wardell, took over from Joan Deary as the product manager in charge of the Elvis catalogue at RCA. He previously suffered a brain aneurysm on February 18, and was ultimately taken off life support. 26. It could have been because he was expected to sing about Old MacDonald having a farm and going E-I-E-I-O, with the addition of embarrassing new lyrics about chicken fricassee, pork and beans, and burgers. " Heartbreak Hotel" "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" Release date: Nov. 8. You could get dangerously lost in the Kings Spanish Eyes, if you favor the European Romantic quadrant of his repertoire. 700 songs. Half material from a few Vegas hotel dates and half studio record, Elviss first two-LP set shuffles us around the country to capture his first performances for a general audience, not designed for TV since 1961, and some of the soulful cuts left over from the great From Elvis in Memphis sessions. gcse.type = 'text/javascript'; The Elvis Presley: The Searcher (The Original Soundtrack) deluxe 3CD set includes a 40-page hardcover book featuring rare photography, liner notes by Warren Zanes, and a director's note by Thom Zimny. ( A Billion is 1 Thousand Million). (1965) After several so-so soundtrack albums in a row, Elvis returns to non-movie-related music, mostly, with a strong album released in celebration of the artists ten years with RCA. Elvis recorded around 710 songs. I Got a Feelin in My Body is especially okay church-revival funk, and lots of swelling gospel-group vocals and string arrangements get busy throughout this Stax Studiorecorded batch. 15. Elvis Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis (1974) At this point, Elvis hadnt played his hometown in 13 years, so why not make a major commercial enterprise of the last show of a big tour? + $35.13 shipping. Fun in Acapulco (1963) Presley plays another romantically persistent boat worker in this movie, and we get another soundtrack of Elvis exotica. In the last ten years the differential between Elvis' US and overseas sales has widened to the point whereby there really is no argument about it. There Aint Nothing Like a Song tries to get you stoked about songcraft by getting you to chew on a tired rock groove with awkward interjections by the films co-star Nancy Sinatra. This is definitive feel-bad Elvis. ", "American certifications Presley, Elvis", "Canadian album certifications Elvis Presley", "British album certifications Elvis Presley", "French album certifications Presley, Elvis", "Elvis Presley Chart History: Billboard 200", "Elvis Presley Chart History: Top Country Albums", "ARIA Charts Accreditations 2008 Albums", Australian Recording Industry Association, "ARIA Charts Accreditations 1999 Albums", "ARIA Charts Accreditations 2002 Albums", "ARIA Charts Accreditations 2018 Albums", "Elvis Presley's Groundbreaking '68 NBC-TV Comeback Special Celebrated with Definitive 50th Anniversary Box Set Release", "Elvis Presley's Pivotal Year of 1969 Celebrated with 50th Anniversary Box Set at the International Hotel in Las Vegas: Live 1969, Available Physically & Digitally August 9th", "RCA/Legacy Recordings Celebrating 50th Anniversary of Elvis Presley's Legendary 1970 Studio B Marathon Sessions with the "Nashville Cats", "Kent Music Report No 453 28 February 1983 > Platinum Albums 1982 (Continued)", "ARIA Charts Accreditations 1996 Albums", "Chart Log UK* Rodney P. The Pussycat Dolls", "ARIA Charts Accreditations 2022 Albums", "ARIA Charts Accreditations 2001 Albums", "ARIA Charts Accreditations 2003 Albums", "ARIA Charts Accreditations 2006 Albums", "Chart Log UK* New Entries Update 29.06.2013 (wk25)", "Star-Studded Music Video For "If I Can Dream" by Elvis Presley, Post Malone, Shawn Mendes, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton, and Carrie Underwood Premieres Today on Apple Music", "ARIA Charts Accreditations 2016 Albums", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elvis_Presley_albums_discography&oldid=1142836866. Music industry One step closer to being accurate. This is the third album recovered from the epic 1970 sessions that produced the competent light-country of Thats the Way It Is and Elvis Country its also the rejects. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. ** It is true that sales returns for many individual titles particularly between March 1973 and January 1976 and August 1977 and August 1978 are incomplete because of computer problems and changes - but RCA still have an audited record of the overall annual, albeit unallocated figures for that period. If you do the math, thats 341 minus 101 equals 240 albums completely unaccounted for under Presleys RIAA tally.