It is enough to make any Elvis fan’s quiff quiver with pride — not only is the King on top of the British pop charts this week, but he looks set to vie for the same spot for most of the next four months.
As a lavish celebration for what would have been the US rock’n’roll legend’s 70th birthday, Elvis’s record label is releasing all 18 of his previous number one British singles in chronological order.
Re-released 1958 classic Jailhouse Rock shot to the number one spot on Sunday, and record label bosses hope that virtually all the others, released week by week until April 25, could do the same.
”The goal was always to get all the singles into the top 10, which looks possible,” said Cat Hollis, whose public relations company is handling the campaign on behalf of record label SonyBMG.
”Getting them all to number one would be amazing, but you can never tell what is going to happen,” she said.
Elvis, whose death in 1977 has done remarkably little to stem his chart success, scored 18 number ones between 1957 and 2002 in Britain, a country where he remains beloved despite never having sung a single note there.
Elvis, who is estimated to have sold around a billion records worldwide, only visited Britain very briefly in 1960, when his plane made a short stopover in Scotland.
SonyBMG released the first two hits, 1957’s All Shook Up and Jailhouse Rock simultaneously last week, in both vinyl format and as CDs printed in black to look like miniature seven-inch singles.
The former was released with a special box designed to contain all 18 releases, meaning it was disqualified from the charts under rules preventing companies bribing their way to the top with free gifts.
However, with Elvis’s legion of British fans currently snapping up the limited-release singles the moment they hit the shops, the other 16 releases could well follow Jailhouse Rock to the top.
They span from All Shook Up to A Little Less Conversation, a
dance remix of a previously little-known song which topped the charts in 2002 after being used in a television commercial for running shoes.
That song gave Elvis his 18th number one, beating the record previously held jointly with The Beatles.
As well as a birthday celebration for Elvis, who was born on January 8, 1935, the stunt is also intended to guarantee one of his songs is the 1 000th number one single since the British chart started in 1952.
Jailhouse Rock is number 999, and given that 1959’s One Night sold out all its run of 7 500 vinyl copies and 15 000 CDs on Monday morning, the place in history looks secure.
”At the moment that’s it [for sales], but if it looks like there’s another single threatening One Night for the 1 000th number one, BMG have said they can release some more copies,” Hollis said.
Unsurprisingly, Elvis fans are thrilled.
”We are absolutely delighted,” said Todd Slaughter, president of 20 000-strong British Elvis Presley Fan Club, which he has led since 1967.
”I think it surprised everybody, amazingly, that Elvis is back at number one, the 19th number one in his chart career,” he said.
”Of course, what everybody’s hoping for now is that the new release will be the 1 00th number one single.”
Slaughter was consulted at length by record label bosses about the re-releases, coming up with the idea to put the singles in copies of their original picture record sleeves, never previously available in Britain.
”They won’t all make it to number one, I’m sure. Like anyone who collects things, there will be a drop off,” Slaughter predicted.
Another factor which might stop all the songs topping the charts is the likely release in a few weeks of a charity single to help victims of the Asian tsunami disaster, which is expected to sell strongly.
Additionally, while Jailhouse Rock reached the current number one with 22 500 sales, when it first achieved the feat in 1958 it sold around 10 times as much, a reflection of the massive decline in single sales over the years.
”But that said, it’s quite an achievement and we’re absolutely over the moon,” Slaughter said.
Despite their hero’s return to prominence, Elvis fans were only ”half-pleased”, he added, due to the huge demand from fans eager to buy up the whole collection of re-released singles.
”A lot of them have been able to buy it, and a lot of others have not been able to buy it,” he explained. – Sapa-AFP