The following article could be read in the 'January 1957 edition' of
Radio Age, published by
Radio Corporation Of America (RCA)
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'New Member in the 'Golden Disc Club' January 1957
Elvis Presley has sold 11 million single records. - THESE DAYS you can get into an argument about
Elvis Presley almost at the drop of a phonograph record.
But there is little room for argument on one point:
as a record salesman, the guitar-thumping Tennessean
has already won a high place for himself among the
best-selling RCA Victor artists of all-time.
In the past year, the singer who switched from
driving a truck to driving teen-agers crazy, has sold
11,000,000 single records — more than anyone else has
ever done in a comparable period. In addition, he has
sold better than 2,000,000 albums.
In his first year in the big-time, Elvis has made
the "Golden Disc Club" — the record industry's All-
America Team — with four titles that have sold more
than a million copies each. "Don't Be Cruel," with
"Hound Dog" on the flip-side, topped the list with
3,200,000 copies, "Love Me Tender" sold 2,300,000,
"Heartbreak Hotel" 1,600,000, and "I Want You, I Need
You, I Love You" 1,200,000. The phenomenal success
of Presley's pressings has old-timers talking about him
in the same breath with best-selling artists of the past.
Altogether, RCA Victor and its predecessor, the
Victor Talking Machine Company, have produced sixty
"golden discs" with sales of a million or more. The
first one was recorded by Enrico Caruso just fifty years
ago — "Vesti la giubba." He followed that up with
"O sole mio" which also hit the magic million mark.
In 1920, Paul Whiteman, the "King of Jazz," re-
corded a lilting tune called "Whispering" which became
the first pop-record to sell a million copies.
In the fast-moving, free-spending days of 1928,
everybody was singing, humming or whistling "Ra-
mona." Gene Austin recorded the number and it
soared over the million mark in just a few months.
After "Ramona," there were nine lean years, years in
which radio threatened to put the phonograph out of
business entirely. Eventually, though, it was radio that
became the No. 1 showcase for records and actually
revitalized the phonograph industry.
This trend began taking shape in 1937 when radio
stations from coast to coast started playing a swinging
instrumental by Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra,
"Marie." It was Dorsey's first golden record. A year
later, he recorded "Boogie Woogie," a tune that has
since sold nearly 4,500,000 copies, an all-time record
for an instrumental. RCA had three other golden rec-
ords in 1938 — "Beer Barrel Polka" by Will Glahe,
"Jalousie" by Arthur Fiedler conducting the Boston Pops
Orchestra, and Artie Shaw's "Begin The Beguine."
Four By Glenn Miller The years immediately before Pearl Harbor saw the
rise of a great new name on the American musical scene,
the name of Glenn Miller. Between 1939 and 1941,
he put four numbers on the all-time best-seller list —
"In The Mood," "Sunrise Serenade," "Tuxedo Junction,"
and "Chattanooga Choo Choo."
The post-war years have been dominated by vocalists.
In fact, between 1946 and 1955 not a single instru-
mental disc reached the million mark. Two of the lead-
ing vocalists have been Perry Como and Eddie Fisher.
Como's first million-copy record was "Prisoner of Love,"
and he later scored with "Don't Let The Stars Get In
Your Eyes," and "Hot Diggity." Fisher made the all-
time list with "Anytime" and "I Need You Now."
Up until 1953, Victor's golden records had been
awarded only to soloists or instrumental groups. But
the Ames Brothers changed the pattern with "You, You,
You," and repeated their success with "Naughty Lady
From Shady Lane." Last year, with Como's "Hot
Diggity," Kay Starr's "Rock And Roll Waltz," and
the four Presley discs, RCA had more records in the
magic million class than ever before in a single year.
Lawrence W. Kanaga, Vice President and General
Manager of the RCA Victor Record Division, summed
up the situation like this:
"The Presley story isn't the kind that is repeated
too often. But when it is repeated, we only hope it
happens at RCA Victor."
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Official Sales by Year-End 1956:
Don't Be Cruel / Hound Dog - 3,200,000
Love Me Tender - 2,300,000
Heartbreak Hotel - 1,600,000
I Want You, I Need You, I Love You - 1,200,000
Martin