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Post by Mael on Feb 8, 2010 8:11:52 GMT -5
The quoted article below comes from the 'October 1956 issue' of Seventeen Magazine. Take an extra look at the text marked red.
Some say he's a passing fad, but Hollywood thinks he's another Marlon Brando
SEVENTEEN recognizes that Elvis Presley is a highly controversial subject. Critics, columnists, parents, religious authorities, psychiatrists and teen-agers have expressed their various opinions. Aware of the enormous reader interest in Elvis Presley. SEVENTEEN hopes the following informative article will illuminate the background and bring the situation into perspective.
Nineteen fifty-six is the year that Elvis Presley, a twenty-one-year-old "holler and jump" vocalist from the deep South, split the great audience of the United States down the middle like a ripe watermelon. Watch television, buy a pop record, tune to a radio disk jockey or put a coin into a jukebox, see a show featuring live music, read movie news- it's difficult to avoid sound, sight or mention of Elvis Presley. Parents and critics unanimously denounce Elvis as a vocalist who can't sing, as an untalented and tasteless performer; the majority of the country's teen-agers consider listening to and/or watching Elvis the most exciting popular music experience imaginable.
Elvis' spectacular rise is one of the most extraordinary ever seen in the history of pop music. His first RCA Victor album, entitled simply Elvis Presley, sold more than any other pop album in the company's history (700,000 by late August); at the peak his pop singles were selling at the rate of 50,000 a day, constituting three-quarters of RCA Victor‘s entire pop-single business! In July, Ed Sullivan reportedly offered Elvis $50,000 to make three appearances on Sullivan's CBS-TV variety show. The first was scheduled for last September 9, the second two follow at approximately eight-week intervals. [/color]
Some wonder whether this phenomenon will last. The recording director who discovered Elvis when he was making thirty—five dollars a week driving a pickup truck feels that the market is being saturated too rapidly with Presley recordings, some good, some ducts. Various musical "experts" claim that Elvis will disappear from public sight within a year, vanishing into a limbo of wrecked jukeboxes and worn-out records. Elvis himself wonders about his physical endurance. Speaking of the ceaseless one—night stands, he shakes his head. "I‘ve traveled over one hundred thousand miles in the last twelve months alone, movin' through more'n twenty states. I love the travelin'," he sighs, "but this business is pretty rough. I been at it a year, but I‘m ten years older now."
...... ......[/size][/quote]
Regards, Martin
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memphis
Diamond Member
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Post by memphis on Feb 8, 2010 18:57:48 GMT -5
The quoted article below comes from the 'October 1956 issue' of Seventeen Magazine. Take an extra look at the text marked red. Some say he's a passing fad, but Hollywood thinks he's another Marlon Brando SEVENTEEN recognizes that Elvis Presley is a highly controversial subject. Critics, columnists, parents, religious authorities, psychiatrists and teen-agers have expressed their various opinions. Aware of the enormous reader interest in Elvis Presley. SEVENTEEN hopes the following informative article will illuminate the background and bring the situation into perspective.
Nineteen fifty-six is the year that Elvis Presley, a twenty-one-year-old "holler and jump" vocalist from the deep South, split the great audience of the United States down the middle like a ripe watermelon. Watch television, buy a pop record, tune to a radio disk jockey or put a coin into a jukebox, see a show featuring live music, read movie news- it's difficult to avoid sound, sight or mention of Elvis Presley. Parents and critics unanimously denounce Elvis as a vocalist who can't sing, as an untalented and tasteless performer; the majority of the country's teen-agers consider listening to and/or watching Elvis the most exciting popular music experience imaginable.
Elvis' spectacular rise is one of the most extraordinary ever seen in the history of pop music. His first RCA Victor album, entitled simply Elvis Presley, sold more than any other pop album in the company's history (700,000 by late August); at the peak his pop singles were selling at the rate of 50,000 a day, constituting three-quarters of RCA Victor‘s entire pop-single business! In July, Ed Sullivan reportedly offered Elvis $50,000 to make three appearances on Sullivan's CBS-TV variety show. The first was scheduled for last September 9, the second two follow at approximately eight-week intervals. [/color] Some wonder whether this phenomenon will last. The recording director who discovered Elvis when he was making thirty—five dollars a week driving a pickup truck feels that the market is being saturated too rapidly with Presley recordings, some good, some ducts. Various musical "experts" claim that Elvis will disappear from public sight within a year, vanishing into a limbo of wrecked jukeboxes and worn-out records. Elvis himself wonders about his physical endurance. Speaking of the ceaseless one—night stands, he shakes his head. "I‘ve traveled over one hundred thousand miles in the last twelve months alone, movin' through more'n twenty states. I love the travelin'," he sighs, "but this business is pretty rough. I been at it a year, but I‘m ten years older now." ...... ......[/size][/quote] Regards, Martin[/quote] Thanks Martin. I am of the belief that Elvis' first album has sold a lot more than it has been given credit. Hopefully, time will tell. Brian
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Post by Mael on Apr 29, 2010 16:34:42 GMT -5
The Selling of Elvis goes on strong a year later
Star-News - August 13, 1978 By Victoria Graham Associated Press
...Brookville Marketing, an RCA licensee, advertises Elvis records on television, and vice president Norman Roseman reports that 1.2 million records and tapes - worth more than $10 million - have been sold in the past year...
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Post by Mael on May 20, 2010 9:33:02 GMT -5
When Sam Phillips came to sell Elvis' contract to RCA in late November 1955, he made some handwritten notes totalling up the sales of the five Elvis singles.
These notes were published in Ger Rijff's "The Rock 'N Roll Years - My Wish Came True".
This is what they revealed:
Sun 209 That's All Right/Blue Moon of Kentucky - total = 101,578 Sun 210 Good Rockin' Tonight/I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine ... - total = 69,232 Sun 215 Milkcow Blues/You're a Heartbreaker - total = 51,179 Sun 217 Baby Let's Play House/I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone ... - total = 91,906 Sun 223 Mystery Train/ I Forgot To Remember... - total = 47,029
(Note: these five singles were re-released by RCA in the spring of 1956.)
Thanks to ColinB at FECC.
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Post by Mael on May 26, 2010 16:13:03 GMT -5
UPDATE: Here are Sam Phillips' actual notes; Sam Phillips Nov 1955 - "Presley Record Sales" Sam Phillips Nov 1955 - "Presley Record Sales" - Page 2
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Post by Mael on May 26, 2010 16:34:21 GMT -5
Ottowa Citizen - September 8, 1956
The RCA Victor man said; "Of the top ten best-selling RCA Victor records in Canada, eight of them are by Elvis".
"Ah jest wish", said Elvis, "ah could take more of those fans on a tour of the country, let 'em see what this kind of life is like. Packin'. Unpackin'. Livin' in hotels".
The RCA Victor man said; "Heartbreak Hotel is close to the million and a half mark. The really phenomenal thing is the album. Ten thousand is a good sale for an L.P. album at that price. Elvis' has sold over four hundred thousand already".
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Post by Mael on May 26, 2010 16:54:03 GMT -5
St. Petersburg Independent - July 24, 1958
His manager said the Presley popularity is "equal to if not better than before" the singer went into the army. In the last four weeks, he said, the new Elvis record (Hard Headed Woman) from the movie "King Creole" has sold 1,400,000 copies.
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Post by Mael on Aug 28, 2010 16:17:05 GMT -5
Here's some interesting all-time SoundScan artist statistics. The following lists show the bestselling artists in order of number of albums by sales range (as of December 31st, 2005).
(rank, # of albums, name (sales rank)
100,000 OR MORE
01. 57 ELVIS PRESLEY (21) 02. 41 FRANK SINATRA (27) 03. 38 ROLLING STONES (38) 04. 38 BOB DYLAN (80) 05. 36 GRATEFUL DEAD (101) 06. 34 GEORGE STRAIT (6) 07. 33 JIMMY BUFFETT (34) 08. 33 ALABAMA (64) 09. 30 BEATLES (2) 10. 30 ELTON JOHN (24) 11. 29 WILLIE NELSON (105) 12. 29 HANK WILLIAMS JR (124) 13. 28 LYNYRD SKYNYRD (86) 14. 28 RUSH (137) 15. 27 BARBRA STREISAND (47) 16. 26 REBA MCENTIRE (22) 17. 26 VAN MORRISON (85) 18. 26 NEIL DIAMOND (94) 19. 25 ROD STEWART (25) 20. 25 PRINCE (88)
500,000 OR MORE
01. 26 GEORGE STRAIT (6) 02. 25 BEATLES (2) 03. 17 REBA MCENTIRE (22) 04. 16 ALAN JACKSON (9) 05. 16 ROLLING STONES (38) 06. 15 GARTH BROOKS (1) 07. 15 U2 (13) 08. 15 ELTON JOHN (24) 09. 14 MARIAH CAREY (3) 10. 14 KENNY G (8) 11. 14 ELVIS PRESLEY (21) 12. 14 LED ZEPPELIN (44) 13. 13 PINK FLOYD (10) 14. 13 AEROSMITH (18) 15. 13 DAVE MATTHEWS BAND (19) 16. 13 JIMMY BUFFETT (34) 17. 13 VAN HALEN (62) 18. 13 ALABAMA (64) 19. 13 NEIL DIAMOND (94) 20. 12 CELINE DION (4) 21. 12 METALLICA (5) 22. 12 ERIC CLAPTON (20) 23. 12 ROD STEWART (25) 24. 12 MADONNA (28) 25. 12 BARBRA STREISAND (47)
1,000,000 OR MORE
01. 19 BEATLES (2) 02. 15 GARTH BROOKS (1) 03. 15 GEORGE STRAIT (6) 04. 13 ALAN JACKSON (9) 05. 12 MARIAH CAREY (3) 06. 11 METALLICA (5) 07. 11 PINK FLOYD (10) 08. 11 U2 (13) 09. 11 LED ZEPPELIN (44) 10. 10 CELINE DION (4) 11. 10 KENNY G (8) 12. 10 2PAC (16) 13. 10 DAVE MATTHEWS BAND (19) 14. 10 ROD STEWART (25) 15. 9 TIM MCGRAW (11) 16. 9 AEROSMITH (18) 17. 9 REBA MCENTIRE (22) 18. 9 ELTON JOHN (24) 19. 9 AC/DC (33) 20. 9 JAY-Z (36) 21. 9 TOBY KEITH (39) 22. 9 R KELLY (43) 23. 9 BROOKS & DUNN (48) 24. 9 BARBRA STREISAND (47)
2,000,000 OR MORE
1. 12 GARTH BROOKS (1) 2. 11 MARIAH CAREY (3) 3. 10 METALLICA (5) 4. 9 BEATLES (2) 5. 9 TIM MCGRAW (11) 6. 8 CELINE DION (4) 7. 8 ALAN JACKSON (9) 8. 7 U2 (13) 9. 7 2PAC (16)
4,000,000 OR MORE
01. 9 GARTH BROOKS (1) 02. 6 CELINE DION (4) 03. 6 MARIAH CAREY (3) 04. 5 METALLICA (5) 05. 5 EMINEM (14) 06. 4 SHANIA TWAIN (7) 07. 4 TIM MCGRAW (11) 08. 4 BACKSTREET BOYS (12) 09. 4 BRITNEY SPEARS (15) 10. 4 2PAC (16) 11. 4 PEARL JAM (16) 12. 4 N SYNC (17) 13. 4 CREED (23) 14. 4 DIXIE CHICKS (31) 15. 4 GUNS & ROSES (37) 16. 4 USHER (52)
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memphis
Diamond Member
Posts: 1,214
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Post by memphis on Aug 28, 2010 18:06:34 GMT -5
Here's some interesting all-time SoundScan artist statistics. The following lists show the bestselling artists in order of number of albums by sales range (as of December 31st, 2005). (rank, # of albums, name (sales rank) 100,000 OR MORE01. 57 ELVIS PRESLEY (21) 02. 41 FRANK SINATRA (27) 03. 38 ROLLING STONES (38) 04. 38 BOB DYLAN (80) 05. 36 GRATEFUL DEAD (101) 06. 34 GEORGE STRAIT (6) 07. 33 JIMMY BUFFETT (34) 08. 33 ALABAMA (64) 09. 30 BEATLES (2) 10. 30 ELTON JOHN (24) 11. 29 WILLIE NELSON (105) 12. 29 HANK WILLIAMS JR (124) 13. 28 LYNYRD SKYNYRD (86) 14. 28 RUSH (137) 15. 27 BARBRA STREISAND (47) 16. 26 REBA MCENTIRE (22) 17. 26 VAN MORRISON (85) 18. 26 NEIL DIAMOND (94) 19. 25 ROD STEWART (25) 20. 25 PRINCE (88) 500,000 OR MORE01. 26 GEORGE STRAIT (6) 02. 25 BEATLES (2) 03. 17 REBA MCENTIRE (22) 04. 16 ALAN JACKSON (9) 05. 16 ROLLING STONES (38) 06. 15 GARTH BROOKS (1) 07. 15 U2 (13) 08. 15 ELTON JOHN (24) 09. 14 MARIAH CAREY (3) 10. 14 KENNY G (8) 11. 14 ELVIS PRESLEY (21) 12. 14 LED ZEPPELIN (44) 13. 13 PINK FLOYD (10) 14. 13 AEROSMITH (18) 15. 13 DAVE MATTHEWS BAND (19) 16. 13 JIMMY BUFFETT (34) 17. 13 VAN HALEN (62) 18. 13 ALABAMA (64) 19. 13 NEIL DIAMOND (94) 20. 12 CELINE DION (4) 21. 12 METALLICA (5) 22. 12 ERIC CLAPTON (20) 23. 12 ROD STEWART (25) 24. 12 MADONNA (28) 25. 12 BARBRA STREISAND (47) 1,000,000 OR MORE01. 19 BEATLES (2) 02. 15 GARTH BROOKS (1) 03. 15 GEORGE STRAIT (6) 04. 13 ALAN JACKSON (9) 05. 12 MARIAH CAREY (3) 06. 11 METALLICA (5) 07. 11 PINK FLOYD (10) 08. 11 U2 (13) 09. 11 LED ZEPPELIN (44) 10. 10 CELINE DION (4) 11. 10 KENNY G (8) 12. 10 2PAC (16) 13. 10 DAVE MATTHEWS BAND (19) 14. 10 ROD STEWART (25) 15. 9 TIM MCGRAW (11) 16. 9 AEROSMITH (18) 17. 9 REBA MCENTIRE (22) 18. 9 ELTON JOHN (24) 19. 9 AC/DC (33) 20. 9 JAY-Z (36) 21. 9 TOBY KEITH (39) 22. 9 R KELLY (43) 23. 9 BROOKS & DUNN (48) 24. 9 BARBRA STREISAND (47) 2,000,000 OR MORE1. 12 GARTH BROOKS (1) 2. 11 MARIAH CAREY (3) 3. 10 METALLICA (5) 4. 9 BEATLES (2) 5. 9 TIM MCGRAW (11) 6. 8 CELINE DION (4) 7. 8 ALAN JACKSON (9) 8. 7 U2 (13) 9. 7 2PAC (16) 4,000,000 OR MORE01. 9 GARTH BROOKS (1) 02. 6 CELINE DION (4) 03. 6 MARIAH CAREY (3) 04. 5 METALLICA (5) 05. 5 EMINEM (14) 06. 4 SHANIA TWAIN (7) 07. 4 TIM MCGRAW (11) 08. 4 BACKSTREET BOYS (12) 09. 4 BRITNEY SPEARS (15) 10. 4 2PAC (16) 11. 4 PEARL JAM (16) 12. 4 N SYNC (17) 13. 4 CREED (23) 14. 4 DIXIE CHICKS (31) 15. 4 GUNS & ROSES (37) 16. 4 USHER (52) Thanks Martin. Very sad to see Elvis rated so low. Brian
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Post by Mael on Sept 12, 2010 7:57:51 GMT -5
As Elvis Presley fans commemorated what would've been the King's 75th birthday Jan. 8, the hits collection "Elvis 75" debuts on the Billboard 200 at No. 47 with 10,000 copies sold. It's his highest-charting nonholiday album since the TV soundtrack "Elvis by the Presleys" reached No. 15 in 2005.
Overall, Presley's catalog of albums posted a 20% increase in sales in the week that ended Jan. 10, rising from 26,000 to 31,000. And his song download sales zipped from 46,000 to 73,000, a gain of 60%.
"Elvis 75" boasts 25 familiar tunes, including "That's All Right," "Hound Dog," "Viva Las Vegas" and "Suspicious Minds." The album is Presley's second entry on the Billboard 200 this year; "Boy From Tupelo" bowed in the Jan. 16 issue. This week, "Tupelo" jumps from No. 122 to No. 92 with 6,000 sold (down 9%).
Elvis Presley's Top-Selling Albums And Songs, Week Ending Jan. 10 ALBUMS
TITLE UNITS
"ELVIS 75" 10,000 "BOY FROM TUPELO" 6,000 "ELVIS: 30 #1 HITS" 4,000 "THE ESSENTIAL ELVIS PRESLEY" 2,000 "FROM ELVIS IN MEMPHIS: LEGACY EDITION" 2,000
SONGS
TITLE UNITS
"CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE" 5,000 "SUSPICIOUS MINDS" 5,000 "JAILHOUSE ROCK" 4,000 "ALL SHOOK UP" 4,000 "A LITTLE LESS CONVERSATION" 4,000
SOURCE: Nielsen SoundScan
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Post by Mael on Sept 25, 2010 4:06:08 GMT -5
Up-to-date Soundscan Sales-figures:
- [2002] Elvis: 30 #1 Hits 4,673,798 (sold 1,587 copies this week) - [2007] Essential Elvis 348,357 (sold 1,002 copies this week) - [2010] Viva Las Vegas 20,430 (sold 353 copies this week)
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memphis
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Posts: 1,214
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Post by memphis on Sept 25, 2010 12:16:14 GMT -5
Up-to-date Soundscan Sales-figures:- [2002] Elvis: 30 #1 Hits 4,673,798 (sold 1,587 copies this week) - [2007] Essential Elvis 348,357 (sold 1,002 copies this week) - [2010] Viva Las Vegas 20,430 (sold 353 copies this week) Thanks Martin. Brian
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Post by Mael on Nov 30, 2011 9:13:38 GMT -5
From Billboard (26 okt 2002):
"Despite those meager chart showings, the sheer breadth of Presley's catalog - he has 152 different album titles that have been tracked since 1991 - had yielded 18.4 million units by the week ending Aug. 18 (2002)."
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memphis
Diamond Member
Posts: 1,214
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Post by memphis on Nov 30, 2011 13:22:26 GMT -5
From Billboard (26 okt 2002): " Despite those meager chart showings, the sheer breadth of Presley's catalog - he has 152 different album titles that have been tracked since 1991 - had yielded 18.4 million units by the week ending Aug. 18 (2002)." Thanks Mael. Impressive. Brian
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Post by Mael on Dec 5, 2011 18:33:04 GMT -5
(US) SoundScan's Best-Selling - Album - Artists through last week: Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales data for Nielsen on March 1, 1991.
1) Garth Brooks (68,554,000) 2) The Beatles (63,100,000) 3) Mariah Carey (53,474,000) 4) Metallica (53,059,000) 5) Celine Dion (51,415,000) 6) George Strait (43,138,000) 7) Eminem (41,028,000) 8) Tim McGraw (40,075,000) 9) Alan Jackson (38,771,000) 10) Pink Floyd (37,069,000)
11) U2 (34,715,000) 12) Kenny G (34,248,000) 13) Shania Twain (34,118,000) 14) Elvis Presley (33,656,000) 15) Michael Jackson (32,722,000) 16) Britney Spears (32,432,000) 17) AC/DC (31,489,000) 18) Pearl Jam (31,082,000) 19) Backstreet Boys (30,958,000) 20) Dave Matthews Band (30,725,000)
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Last time a Top20 was published, was on January 1st, 2008. That time, Elvis Presley ranked #16 with 29.471,000 in sales.
In the period January 1, 2008 - December 4, 2011, Elvis Presley sold 4,185 million albums in the US.
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Post by Mael on Dec 6, 2011 11:08:31 GMT -5
Biggest increasers since end of 2007 :
1. Michael Jackson +13,681,000 (+46 positions) 2. Eminem +8,158,000 (+5) 3. The Beatles +7,405,000 (=) 4. AC/DC +5,803,000 (+12) 5. Metallica +4,389,000 (+1) 6. Elvis Presley +4,185,000 (+2) 7. George Strait +3,967,000 (=) 8. Tim McGraw +3,662,000 (-1) 9. Mariah Carey +3,537,000 (=) 10. Alan Jackson +3,505,000 (-1)
11. Britney Spears +3,208,000 (+2) 12. U2 +2,628,000 (+2) 13. Pink Floyd +2,616,000 (-1) 14. Dave Matthews Band +2,181,000 (+1) 15. Celine Dion +1,732,000 (-1) 16. Pearl Jam +1,709,000 (-1) 17. Kenny G +1,176,000 (-1) 18. Garth Brooks +1,152,000 (=) 19. Shania Twain +587,000 (-3) 20. Backstreet Boys +362,000 (-4)
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memphis
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Post by memphis on Dec 26, 2011 10:22:41 GMT -5
ELVIS’ 1977-1978 RECORD SALES There have been many myths surrounding the sales rush that happened after Elvis died. Sales figures mentioned were twenty million sold the day after he died (or the week after he died) depending on what source you read. The other popular figure mentioned was that 100,000,000 records were sold the year after he died. Is there is any truth in these figures, or are they just plucked from the mind of a journalist with an over-active imagination? I will give a brief summary here on what I have found relating to the sales surge that happened after Elvis died. Firstly, it is important to remember that in the weeks before Elvis died, there would have been no more that a couple of million Elvis albums on the shelves in U.S. record stores. ‘MOODY BLUE’ had just been released and it was doing the usual business for an Elvis album at that time. RCA would have had about 500,000 copies of this album put out and 300,000 of them had already been sold by the middle of August. My own conclusion is that the sales from this period, on the evidence that I have seen, are probably ‘THE GREATEST SELLING TOTAL OVER SUCH A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME IN THE HISTORY OF RECORDED MUSIC’. The evidence, leaving aside the myths, is for the most part circumstantial, but like a giant jigsaw puzzle, a definite picture emerges when you put it all together. One of the myths that has come out of this period is that RCA were caught totally unaware by Elvis’ death and had nothing prepared or no strategy in place. While the release pattern seems to bear this out, in hindsight RCA continued to follow the same pattern and release policy they pursued when he was alive, in the three years after Elvis died. The new releases were not inspiring in content or presentation, a similar situation to the years just before Elvis died. RCA reacted to Elvis’ death in the way that they knew best, by dealing with it in an economic commercial way, providing their shareholders with their best return since the mid-sixties. While RCA said that they would not overly exploit Elvis’ passing with a deluge of new albums, they nevertheless flooded the market with Elvis’ back catalogue, maintaining that this was their intention before Elvis died anyway. It was the best of all worlds for RCA, no promotion needed for new albums, covers and sleeve designs already in existence and no payments to the ESTATE or to musicians for the use of new material. There is the much mentioned figure of 20,000,000 records sold in the U.S.A. the day after Elvis died (16th August, 1977). This would not have been possible given the fact that there may have only been 2-3,000,000 Elvis albums on the shelves, including the PICKWICK releases. What did happen from August 17th is that RCA were inundated with orders from just about every source, to the extent that seven days after his death, RCA had received orders for a little over fourteen million Elvis albums, while PICKWICK RECORDS accumulated orders for another five million albums. This information came from a U.S. book on the history of the U.S. recording industry and the source quoted was RCA President at that time, LOUIS COUTOLENC. This huge demand for Elvis product was unheard of in the history of the recording industry, and only for the fact that the orders were spread over fifty-two titles, we would have had, perhaps, the largest selling albums of all time if RCA had concentrated on just the current releases. The demand presented RCA with major logistical problems as they had been withdrawing from the record manufacturing side of the industry in an effort to streamline costs. However, a report in BILLBOARD MAGAZINE dated 3rd September, 1977, states "RCA is finding itself literally hard-pressed to keep up with unabating demand for LP's, tapes and singles. Its vertically integrated Indianapolis operation has been running seven days, 24 hours, pressing all 50 LP's in the catalog, as well as producing tapes and singles. While no detailed figures on either shipments or sales of exact titles will be available from the label until next week at the earliest - with all available outside pressing facilities used - reliable industry sources indicate about 20 million units being shipped weekly on all Presley product in the U.S. for RCA." Stan LEWIS, veteran record distributor in Shreveport, La., who also owns a one-stop operation and six local retail stores, says his entire stock of 25,000 albums, singles and tapes sold out in one day. He ordered 150,000 more tapes, singles and albums; it took him four hours to get through to RCA's sales office in New York because of other distributor calls. One of their largest pressing plants, ROCKAWAY, was closed in the middle of 1973 and their major West Coast plant at HOLLYWOOD was closed in 1976. They did have, however, the largest pressing plant in the country at INDIANAPOLIS, with the capacity to ship 250,000 albums a day. RCA immediately started to operate this plant in a treble shift rotation, six days a week, and I believe that based on reports from VARIETY/BILLBOARD magazines and books like ‘WHEN ELVIS DIED’ (that deals factually with the issue), that this plant managed to output some 3,000,000 albums a week until early December, when it cut back to a single shift again. Based on this information, the INDIANAPOLIS pressing plant sent over thirty million albums onto the market between August and December. What is absolutely definite is that the INDIANAPOLIS plant switched totally over to Elvis product until the end of March, 1978, as confirmed in a January 1979 RCA Shareholders financial Review of 1978. As much as INDIANAPOLIS was turning out, it wasn’t enough, and RCA were forced to cancel their entire Country and Western new release catalogue until the Spring of 1978, which was estimated to be approximately 40% of total country music sales. By the start of September, RCA were forced by sheer demand for Elvis product to source outside pressing capacity and they had to commission upwards of twenty-five to thirty plants based mainly in the Southern U.S.A. to manufacture selected Elvis albums. The generally agreed figure by most Elvis books and BILLBOARD MAGAZINE was forty to forty-two pressing plants which were producing Elvis product between September, 1977 and July, 1978. I have come across the names of about eighteen plants from books and magazines, and in many cases the album can tell you where it came from. It must be said that the great majority of these pressing plants were small capacity independents, catering mainly for the country market. Most were outputting 10,000 – 20,000 albums a day, but between these plants and the plant at INDIANAPOLIS, upwards of fifty million albums were put onto the U.S. market in the six months after Elvis died. Probably the best book detailing what happened after Elvis died was written by NEAL and JANICE GREGORY called ‘WHEN ELVIS DIED’ (ISBN 0 89461 032 5). This book describes the reaction from all forms of media, as well as general fan reaction, and more importantly detailing the demand for Elvis records in the months that followed his death. This book provides the circumstantial evidence making the case for the surge in Elvis’ record sales after his death. For instance, it reports that the DALLAS office of RCA took $250,000 of trade orders to supply local record stores the night Elvis died, which approximates to120,000 albums. Just one wholesaler in IOWA ordered 42,000 copies of ‘MOODY BLUE’ the following day. STAN LEWIS, a retailer who owned six record stores in the State of LOUISIANA stated to BILLBOARD MAGAZINE that his entire stock of 25,000 albums sold out in a day and he struggled to contact RCA regional offices to order 150,000 more. RCA on the West Coast were struggling to fill the orders that were coming in and dispatched an executive to Canada with the instructions to purchase as many albums as he could from RCA across the border. Elvis’ death was THE major news story for seventy-two hours in the States and the media frenzy fed the sales rush for Elvis albums, the more the story was covered, the more the demand for his records. RCA could not have got this publicity in a million years and they were to try their hardest to satisfy public demand. HERBERT HELMAN, Vice-President of RCA Records, was quoted in an interview with BILLBOARD MAGAZINE, that they had managed to ship nearly 8,000,000 albums and two million singles in the first ten days after Elvis died, but this he said would be nowhere near enough to cope with incoming orders. In the book, 'WHEN ELVIS DIED' it states that 1977 was the best year in RCA’s fiscal history up to that time, with earnings of $247 million as well as sales of $5.9 billion. This represented a 40% improvement over 1976, in a year where just about every division bar the record section, reported a downturn. While not giving details of the Elvis contribution, it is implicit in their text that the overwhelming factor in that year’s success was the sale of Elvis’ back catalogue. For five days after Elvis died, the INDIANAPOLIS plant pressed 250,000 copies of the ‘MOODY BLUE’ album per day and then still managed to press a third of that figure for the following four weeks. In total it seems INDIANAPOLIS pressed a little over 4,000,000 copies of this album up to February, 1978, to add to the 400,000 already in print before Elvis died. The RIAA have only given Elvis a DOUBLE PLATINUM award for this album, so where have the other 2,500,000 copies gone to, along with the thirty-two years of continuous availability, plus the change over to CD? It would seem that the bones of 3,000,000 sales have gone walkabout with this album alone. Even the U.S. Army was not immune to the frenzy, as the ARMY and AIRFORCE EXCHANGE CENTRE ordered an initial 35,000 albums to distribute to army personnel overseas. PAUL RANDALL, an RCA Executive in Nashville, claimed in a BILLBOARD MAGAZINE interview that eight million plus Elvis albums were sold retail in the five days after Elvis died and back orders by the beginning of November still stretched well into the new year. A BILLBOARD MAGAZINE editorial claimed that Elvis was solely responsible for the revival of the worldwide music industry and went on to say that the combined efforts of all the pressing plants producing Elvis records were shipping twenty million albums a week!!!!! The ATLANTA JOURNAL quoted a local record distributor, MICHAEL ASKINS of BEAR FAMILY RECORDS, who was ecstatic to secure 150,000 albums from RCA for the Atlanta area and he went on to say that he did not know how he would be able to service the rest of Georgia. BILLBOARD MAGAZINE had literally dozens of features on the sales explosion and commented that in the country market, nearly one in every two albums purchased between August and October were Elvis titles, a quite remarkable feat they said. Another BILLBOARD MAGAZINE feature claimed in an interview with an unnamed RCA Executive, that by January, 1978, RCA had sold or licensed over 70,000,000 Elvis albums!!!!! Unfortunately I have neither a name or the date that the article was printed, all I saw was an online copy of the page it was printed on but the date was obscured. Other sales related articles appeared in the ‘PHILADELPHIA ENQUIRER/THE NASHVILLE BANNER/THE LOS ANGELES TIMES/THE MEMPHIS PRESS SCIMITAR/THE CHICAGO SUN TIMES/THE BOSTON GLOBE and THE CLEVELAND PRESS’, all detailing both local as well as national sales phenomena. For example, in LOS ANGELES, most local music retailers agreed to ration sales of Elvis albums to two per person, well into September. A report in ‘THE BOSTON GLOBE’ claimed that RCA Head Office put office staff to work loading boxes of albums onto lorries and interestingly said that the paperwork would have to wait till the rush was over. Sales appeared to be fairly even throughout the country with the only exception being some urban areas in the big cities where the mainly black population had for the most part, turned their backs on Elvis a generation earlier. Smaller labels that sold a handful of Elvis interview albums a month, now found that they were being inundated with orders in the tens of thousands. The Tennessee based ‘GREEN VALLEY RECORDS’ found that sales of an album they produced called ‘ELVIS SPEAKS TO YOU’ had sky-rocketed into the stratosphere with orders well into the high six figures coming in. They were used to a pressing of 2-5,000 albums at a time. All the statements above are only snapshots of what happened in the weeks and months after Elvis died, but they do make, nevertheless, a compelling circumstantial case that sales of Elvis albums in the year after he died did indeed rocket towards the 100,000,000 mark. We are perhaps destined to never really know the full extent of these sales unless some time in the future RCA records for that period are made publicly available. There are strong reasons why this will probably not happen any-time soon. The vexed question of royalties due to the Estate, plus the shenanigans of Colonel PARKER when dealing with RCA is a poisoned chalice that even the Estate do not want to drink from. The only definite fact that I can truly state, is that the paltry return of PLATINUM and GOLD awards given to Elvis for sales of product during this historic and incredible sales rush is derisory to put it mildly. In 1980, ‘THE WASHINGTON POST’ reported that industry sources attributed sales of one billion records worldwide to Elvis, which at the time was twice that of Paul McCartney (Beatles and Wings combined). They went on to say that a Plaque was presented to RCA to mark this feat. Now call me naive, but Elvis today is still reported to have sold a billion records worldwide, nearly thirty two years after this was reported to have been the case. Are we to believe that record industry mentors were unable to count in 1980 or did they just confirm all that happened in the couple of years after Elvis died. I have also gathered sales data from this vital period for countries all over the world and a figure of one hundred and fifty million would not be a major exaggeration in my opinion. However, for now I will leave this subject with a quote from BILLBOARD MAGAZINE in a November 16th, 1977 issue that stated “the continued demand for anything Elvis is accounting for a third of all U.S. albums sold’. On a final note, MICHAEL OMANSKY - Senior Vice President (BMG) in a letter to me dated September 23rd, 1999 on being asked who had sold the most records Elvis or The Beatles his reply was, and I quote, "We have nothing to prove of our sales versus the Beatles. It's not close".... Elvis is the largest seller of records of all time." Further, in an article in the Milwaukee Journal dated 30th July, 2001, OMANSKY stated the following "RCA's marketing philosophy with Elvis is a decided contrast to EMI/Capitol's management of the Beatles catalogue. Where new Beatles products are rare but sell in multi-platinum figures, RCA releases several new Elvis albums a year, which sell more slowly but steadily. Of those 70-odd Elvis albums in print, more than one-third are boxed sets. The Beatles are on capitol/EMI, but the record company doesn't control the product. The Beatles do. Conversely, we control the Elvis product. The Beatles had more control over what EMI did. When EMI did have something to go after, since it was less frequent, they'd go after it in a bigger way. When you add it all up, Elvis has actually sold more records than the Beatles." I thought I would reproduce the above from my records, especially with the new found interest in Elvis' record sales/awards. Whether the information is accurate I cannot say but I hope it gives a 'feel' for the sales frenzy which took place following Elvis' death with the possibility of his being 'shortchanged' by many millions of sales because of poor record keeping. Brian
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memphis
Diamond Member
Posts: 1,214
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Post by memphis on Jan 8, 2013 9:07:29 GMT -5
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memphis
Diamond Member
Posts: 1,214
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Post by memphis on Apr 20, 2013 12:23:17 GMT -5
Elvis Heads Billboard's Top 40 Singles List: Here's an updated look at the acts with the most top 40 titles dating to the Hot 100's Aug. 4, 1958, launch: 80. Elvis Presley 61. Lil Wayne 57. Elton John 51. "Glee" Cast 50. the Beatles 49. Madonna 46. Stevie Wonder 44. James Brown 43. Aretha Franklin 41. Marvin Gaye 41. the Rolling Stones 41. Taylor Swift. Brian
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memphis
Diamond Member
Posts: 1,214
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Post by memphis on Jun 14, 2013 9:58:58 GMT -5
DVD/VIDEO
Below is a list of RIAA DVD/Video Long Form releases that Elvis has received gold, platinum or multi-platinum awards for:
He Touched Me - The Gospel Songs Of Elvis Presley * (PLATINUM) (DVD) (As of 1st June, 2013, this DVD had sold 220,079 units now making it eligible for an RIAA upgrade to 2XMP).
He Touched Me - The Gospel Songs Of Elvis Presley * (Vol.2) (2XMP) (DVD)
Elvis 68 Comeback - (Special Edition) (2XMP) (DVD)
Aloha From Hawaii - (De-Luxe-Edition) (4XMP) (DVD)
Aloha From Hawaii - (Special Edition) (2XMP) (DVD)
Elvis 68 Comeback Special (De-Luxe Edition) (4XMP) (DVD)
Elvis No.1 Hit Performances (PLATINUM) (DVD)
Elvis Lives (PLATINUM) (DVD) (As a point of interest this DVD had sold 170,803 units by 1st June, 2013)
Elvis By The Presleys (2XMP) (DVD)
The Lost Performances (PLATINUM) (Video Long Form) (VHS)
Great Performances (Vol.1) * (2XMP) DVD)
Great Performances (Vol.2) * (2XMP) (DVD)
68 Comeback Special (1986 Release) (GOLD) (Video Long Form)
Aloha From Hawaii (1986 Release) (PLATINUM) (Video Long Form)
* These releases are now available as Double DVD packages.
The sales criteria for DVD/Video Long Form Awards are as follows:
50,000 - Gold
100,000 - Platinum
200,000 - Multi Platinum.
Re-certification is at each 100,000 unit sales level.
Brian
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