Moody Blue (2000)

[martin018]

According to elvisinfonet the reissue of Moody Blue from 2000 has been issued a silver disc in the Uk for sales of 60,000 copies.
Obviously this is in addition to the original album.

[FanFrom'61]

According to elvisinfonet the reissue of Moody Blue from 2000 has been issued a silver disc in the Uk for sales of 60,000 copies.
Obviously this is in addition to the original album.

The original went on to sell around 210,000 - it wasn’t on the UK chart for very long however - only 11 weeks peaking at #3 for two weeks and was prevented from going higher by 20 Golden Greats from Diana Ross & Supremes at #1 and Oxygene from Jean Michel Jarre at #2 which was his first album.

[martin018]

From memory I think Elvis had about 7 albums in the top 50 at the same time just after his death.

[FanFrom'61]

From memory I think Elvis had about 7 albums in the top 50 at the same time just after his death.

In what country? UK or US. If the US, it was 6 but in the UK, there were more - on the first week of September, there were 14 including Moody Blue. Numbers are chart positions for that week. Most were only on chart for a couple of weeks though.

Moody Blue 4
40 Greatest 1
Welcome To My World 7
Elvis In Demand 12
G I Blues 14
The Sun Collection 20
Elvis Golden Records Vol 1 - 21
Elvis at Madison Square Garden 26
Elvis Golden Records Vol 2 - 27
Hits Of The 70s - 30
Blue Hawaii 37
From Elvis Presley Boulevard 38
Elvis Golden Records Vol 3 - 49
Pictures of Elvis 52

[NinaFromCanadaEh]

From memory I think Elvis had about 7 albums in the top 50 at the same time just after his death.

RCA had to turn over half their production lines for Elvis Product after he died.


http://www.elvis-history-blog.com/elvis-europe.html

Those of us old enough to remember Elvis' death in August 1977 also remember how the American public’s demand for his records exploded during the ensuing months. (In September 1977, Elvis had eight albums on Billboard’s "50 Hot Country LPs" chart.) Like a tidal wave, the boom in Presley record sales spread across the planet, tragically putting a spotlight on his international appeal. The following brief sketches of European responses to Presley’s passing are summarized from reports in Billboard from August and September 1977.

• UNITED KINGDOM

There were over 12,000 members of Elvis’ official U.K. fan club when the singer died, so it’s not surprising that London became ground zero for the resulting Presley record sales boom in Europe. One retailer there at the time called the demand for Presley products “staggering” and likened it to “the days when the Beatles’ albums went overnight to number one.”

Reaction to Elvis’ death at the retail level was “stunned amazement.” Nicholas Banks of Sound Effect in York explained, “Everything sold out fast. We even resurrected the Elvis Christmas Album and it goes out fast with each reorder.”

At Easy Listening in Birmingham, John Corbett had never seen such a record-buying splurge. “It’s been nothing but Presley, particularly his really big old singles,” he noted. “Everybody has been genuinely sad about buying them at this time. Product has sold to the mums and dads, who probably grew up with his music, and kids who have seen his films on television.” Lancashire storeowner Tony Ames said his customers were “really heartbroken by the news. They still come in, literally red-eyed and white-faced.” Mike Scott-Mason of Harlequin’s Coventry Street branch added, “Presley’s appeal is clearly universal, because just about everybody is buying anything, including tourists.”

• FRANCE
Sales of Presley records in France had fluctuated over the years, peaking at 250,000 copies for his most popular issues. A Billboard correspondent explained, “It was always felt that things would be different, even in a French-speaking territory, if he had made personal appearances here.” Still, Elvis’s death resulted in a sudden rise in his record sales in France. A production order for 250,000 LPs was placed after the news hit.

• GERMANY

Harald Heilmann, RCA’s sales chief in West Germany, announced, “We sold 500,000 albums in the week after Presley’s death and could have sold double that.” RCA’s pressing facility in Hamburg just couldn’t keep up with the demand. The staff worked day and night shifts, but still dealers had to stand in line to get Presley records.

After the news of Presley’s death broke, German discos played only Elvis records, and newspapers gave the story their biggest treatments since the death of President John Kennedy. The music newspaper Musik Joker halted the printing of its current issue and replaced it with an “Elvis Special” print run of 180,000 copies. German travel agents were busy organizing trips to Memphis for German fans. A spokesman for record company DGG, which produced an Elvis tribute record, said, “Superstar Elvis is a man of the century and will live on records forever.”

• HOLLAND

Inelco, RCA’s Presley licensee in Holland, had sold more than 5 million Presley LPs since the start of Elvis’ career. More than 100,000 more were sold within the first three days after his death. Such concentrated sales activity was considered phenomenal in Dutch music business history, according to Billboard. On the day of Elvis’s funeral, Inelco re-released the single “Wooden Heart” and rushed forward the release of a Presley Album, “20 Fantastic Hits,” which had been originally scheduled for the following month.

Within hours after Elvis’ death, Dutch composer-producer Eddy Ouwens recorded the tribute song, “I Remember Elvis Presley.” Released under the artist name “Danny Mirror,” the record sold 100,000 copies the first day. However, EMI-Bevema artist, Jack Jersey, known as “The Dutch Elvis,” declined to record an Elvis-themed song at the time, saying he felt it was too much of a commercial cash-in.

• SWEDEN

The morning of Elvis’ death, the Stockholm switchboard at Electra Records, RCA’s Elvis licensee in Sweden, was swamped with calls. Some of the callers were fans, but most were dealers who sold out their Elvis records. “We’ll never have an artist of that stature again,” stated Lennard Andersson, Electra’s press officer. “There is no one to match him with any other company in the world. It was a great and sad loss. As for sales, it was just like a pre-Christmas rush, though one based solely on Elvis product.”

Electra found itself better positioned for the sudden demand for Elvis vinyl than most European companies. The summer had been used for stocking, and supplementary orders had already been placed on most Presley recordings. As a result, the company had 68 different Presley LPs and about 50 singles in stock when the demand wave hit.

Billboard reported on the quick reaction by Swedish stores. “One shop in Stockholm devoted a whole display window for a special memorial display with sleeves, white carnations and Presley pictures. Most book shops arranged special Elvis displays. Swedish TV-2 has already scheduled the screening of several Elvis movies.”

• FINLAND

Although Elvis’ Finnish fan club became inactive in the 1960s, Billboard reported “widespread shock among pop fans in Finland over Presley’s death.” Magazine tributes were “building up to a tremendous coverage peak.”

During the 1960s, when Presley’s popularity peaked in Finland, his records accounted for 20% of total annual sales for Discophon, RCA’s licensee in the country. Elvis’s best-known record there was “It’s Now or Never” (close to 30,000 copies sold). In the 1970s, Presley sales leveled off to between 10,000-15,000 per year. Only a month before his death, Kid Galahad became the first Presley film to be seen on television in Finland.

After his death, Discophon quickly sold out its stock of Presley records. Producing new ones took up to two weeks, mainly due to printing of the sleeves. In the interim, Finnish Elvis fans searched out the direct import stores.

• DENMARK

Hede Nielsen, RCA’s distributor in Denmark, sent dealers the 9,000 Presley albums that it had in stock. It then faced the difficult task of meeting a firm demand of 80,000 more with help from plants in Italy, France, Germany, the U.K., and Canada. Pressure from retailers finally forced the company to close its orders office.

The company’s managing director explained that the HN tried to get Elvis records directly from the U.S. “We promised American RCA we would cover up the Victor dog on the labels, but they would not send the records because of that copyright problem. But we were desperate for Presley product.”

Planned soon on Danish TV was a play written by Dan Turell and Edmondt Jensen, based on the words of American protest singer, Phil Ochs: “The only possibility in the U.S. for a humane society would be a revolution with Elvis Presley as leader.”

• IRELAND

Irish Record Factors and Soloman and Peres jointly handled distribution of Presley records in Ireland. Following Elvis’ death, IRF cleared out its remaining stock of Presley vinyl in two days; S & P did the same in one day.

Already in the works was “Elvis,” a musical based on the singer’s life. Developed by Irish promoter Noel Pearson, it was set to open in Cork in October 1977. Cahir O’Doherty had the lead role, with other local actors portraying Colonel Parker, Bill Haley, and The Beatles. A 12-inch single Elvis tribute disc featuring O’Doherty was in the pipeline from CBS Ireland.

• CZECHOSLOVAKIA

“The news of Elvis Presley’s passing had a wide impact in Czechoslovakia,” according to Billboard, this in spite of the fact that Presley recordings had never been pressed and distributed within the country. RCA had no licensee for Presley products in the communist nation. Some records, however, came in from India, which at times provided Czechoslovakia with licensed products.

“Yet Presley was enormously popular,” Billboard reported, “especially among the generation who were in their teens in the early ’60s. He was probably the only foreign pop star who had an active fan club here, and some local cover versions of his hits are among the most important recordings in Czech pop history.”

• ITALY

Even though Presley had had no major hits in Italy since the early sixties, his death was widely covered by Italian radio, television, and the press.

RCA Italiana announced it would release a special Elvis commemorative album of tracks selected by the Italian fan club (Club Amici Di Elvis Presley). Livio Monari, president of the 1,000-member club, said, “As soon as we have permission from the U.S.A., the special album will be prepared. The club members have mostly selected numbers from recent recordings in order to show that he was still a major international star.”

Monari had received hundreds of phone calls at the club headquarters in Rocanati. “Many fans asked us to arrange a trip to Memphis for the funeral,” he said, “but there was not enough time to organize it. Next year we shall go and visit the grave.”

• SPAIN

Spain was one of the few major European countries that did not experience a boom in record sales after Elvis' death. The news “provoked a mass of retrospectives and news stories in the media here,” reported Billboard’s Spanish contributor, “but at street level the reaction was somewhat more subdued—a sign that the Presley cult was not as deeply rooted here as elsewhere in Europe.”

During the early years of his career, Elvis was not promoted in Spain, where the music industry was then dominated by South American dance music. His followers in the fifties were considered a “sophisticated elite who were in touch with trends in the ‘outside word.’ By the time the Spanish record industry caught up with the rest of Europe, Elvis had evolved into what local teenagers regarded as a ‘light-weight family entertainer.’”

Of course, the commercial upheaval following Elvis’ passing in 1977 occurred in other parts of world besides North America and Europe. It was felt as well in Australia and the Far East, particularly in Japan. It’s ironic that the tragedy of his passing helped to illuminate the magnitude of Elvis’ international stardom. — Alan Hanson | © March 2010

The Presley sales boom was less pronounced in France than in other Northern European countries. French pop music fans had never bought into rock ’n’ roll as much as the English-speaking countries on the continent. Still, most French newspapers gave frontpage coverage to Elvis’ death, with “Le Monde” describing the singer as “the demon of rock.


see also
https://www.elvis.com.au/presley/one-bi ... ales.shtml

https://www.elvis-atouchofgold.com/popularity/


https://www.elvisinfonet.com/elvis_sale ... roger.html

https://www.elvis.net/guinness/guinness.html

[FanFrom'61]

From memory I think Elvis had about 7 albums in the top 50 at the same time just after his death.

RCA had to turn over half their production lines for Elvis Product after he died.


http://www.elvis-history-blog.com/elvis-europe.html

Those of us old enough to remember Elvis' death in August 1977 also remember how the American public’s demand for his records exploded during the ensuing months. (In September 1977, Elvis had eight albums on Billboard’s "50 Hot Country LPs" chart.) Like a tidal wave, the boom in Presley record sales spread across the planet, tragically putting a spotlight on his international appeal. The following brief sketches of European responses to Presley’s passing are summarized from reports in Billboard from August and September 1977.

• UNITED KINGDOM

There were over 12,000 members of Elvis’ official U.K. fan club when the singer died, so it’s not surprising that London became ground zero for the resulting Presley record sales boom in Europe. One retailer there at the time called the demand for Presley products “staggering” and likened it to “the days when the Beatles’ albums went overnight to number one.”

Reaction to Elvis’ death at the retail level was “stunned amazement.” Nicholas Banks of Sound Effect in York explained, “Everything sold out fast. We even resurrected the Elvis Christmas Album and it goes out fast with each reorder.”

At Easy Listening in Birmingham, John Corbett had never seen such a record-buying splurge. “It’s been nothing but Presley, particularly his really big old singles,” he noted. “Everybody has been genuinely sad about buying them at this time. Product has sold to the mums and dads, who probably grew up with his music, and kids who have seen his films on television.” Lancashire storeowner Tony Ames said his customers were “really heartbroken by the news. They still come in, literally red-eyed and white-faced.” Mike Scott-Mason of Harlequin’s Coventry Street branch added, “Presley’s appeal is clearly universal, because just about everybody is buying anything, including tourists.”

It's the main Billboard 200 that is important - not a sub genre Country chart. Elvis had just 6 albums that charted after his death and that included Moody Blue which peaked at #3.

The albums were:

Moody Blue # 3 31 wks
Gold Records # 63 24 wks
Gold Records 3 # 64 23 wks
50 Worldwide Gold Hits 1 # 83 14 wks
A Legendary Performer 1 # 62 14 wks
Welcome To My World # 71 14 wks

I don't know who the retailer was in London who likened it to “the days when the Beatles’ albums went overnight to number one.” because if it had been like that, Moody Blue would have got higher than its peak position of #3 and would have sold more that the couple of hundred thousand it did sell.

Interestingly, Elvis as an America artist had many less chart entries in the US after he died (6) when compared to the UK (14) and it was vice versa when John Lennon died. In the US, there were 13 Lennon / Beatles albums on Billboard 200 with his very latest album Double Fantasy hittting #1 and staying there for 8 weeks - it remained on chart for 77 weeks whilst in the UK, it was 6 albums with Double Fantasy hitting #1 for two weeks, remaining on the chart for 36 weeks.

David Bowie after he died however was almost equal on both sides of the Atlantic - he had 10 albums on Billboad 200 whilst in UK, it was 8 albums.

[TheKingOfMusicEP]

According to elvisinfonet the reissue of Moody Blue from 2000 has been issued a silver disc in the Uk for sales of 60,000 copies.
Obviously this is in addition to the original album.

it would be nice if RIAA USA would come around with an update of awards for Elvis

[Elfan]

From memory I think Elvis had about 7 albums in the top 50 at the same time just after his death.

RCA had to turn over half their production lines for Elvis Product after he died.


http://www.elvis-history-blog.com/elvis-europe.html

Those of us old enough to remember Elvis' death in August 1977 also remember how the American public’s demand for his records exploded during the ensuing months. (In September 1977, Elvis had eight albums on Billboard’s "50 Hot Country LPs" chart.) Like a tidal wave, the boom in Presley record sales spread across the planet, tragically putting a spotlight on his international appeal. The following brief sketches of European responses to Presley’s passing are summarized from reports in Billboard from August and September 1977.

• UNITED KINGDOM

There were over 12,000 members of Elvis’ official U.K. fan club when the singer died, so it’s not surprising that London became ground zero for the resulting Presley record sales boom in Europe. One retailer there at the time called the demand for Presley products “staggering” and likened it to “the days when the Beatles’ albums went overnight to number one.”

Reaction to Elvis’ death at the retail level was “stunned amazement.” Nicholas Banks of Sound Effect in York explained, “Everything sold out fast. We even resurrected the Elvis Christmas Album and it goes out fast with each reorder.”

At Easy Listening in Birmingham, John Corbett had never seen such a record-buying splurge. “It’s been nothing but Presley, particularly his really big old singles,” he noted. “Everybody has been genuinely sad about buying them at this time. Product has sold to the mums and dads, who probably grew up with his music, and kids who have seen his films on television.” Lancashire storeowner Tony Ames said his customers were “really heartbroken by the news. They still come in, literally red-eyed and white-faced.” Mike Scott-Mason of Harlequin’s Coventry Street branch added, “Presley’s appeal is clearly universal, because just about everybody is buying anything, including tourists.”

• FRANCE
Sales of Presley records in France had fluctuated over the years, peaking at 250,000 copies for his most popular issues. A Billboard correspondent explained, “It was always felt that things would be different, even in a French-speaking territory, if he had made personal appearances here.” Still, Elvis’s death resulted in a sudden rise in his record sales in France. A production order for 250,000 LPs was placed after the news hit.

• GERMANY

Harald Heilmann, RCA’s sales chief in West Germany, announced, “We sold 500,000 albums in the week after Presley’s death and could have sold double that.” RCA’s pressing facility in Hamburg just couldn’t keep up with the demand. The staff worked day and night shifts, but still dealers had to stand in line to get Presley records.

After the news of Presley’s death broke, German discos played only Elvis records, and newspapers gave the story their biggest treatments since the death of President John Kennedy. The music newspaper Musik Joker halted the printing of its current issue and replaced it with an “Elvis Special” print run of 180,000 copies. German travel agents were busy organizing trips to Memphis for German fans. A spokesman for record company DGG, which produced an Elvis tribute record, said, “Superstar Elvis is a man of the century and will live on records forever.”

• HOLLAND

Inelco, RCA’s Presley licensee in Holland, had sold more than 5 million Presley LPs since the start of Elvis’ career. More than 100,000 more were sold within the first three days after his death. Such concentrated sales activity was considered phenomenal in Dutch music business history, according to Billboard. On the day of Elvis’s funeral, Inelco re-released the single “Wooden Heart” and rushed forward the release of a Presley Album, “20 Fantastic Hits,” which had been originally scheduled for the following month.

Within hours after Elvis’ death, Dutch composer-producer Eddy Ouwens recorded the tribute song, “I Remember Elvis Presley.” Released under the artist name “Danny Mirror,” the record sold 100,000 copies the first day. However, EMI-Bevema artist, Jack Jersey, known as “The Dutch Elvis,” declined to record an Elvis-themed song at the time, saying he felt it was too much of a commercial cash-in.

• SWEDEN

The morning of Elvis’ death, the Stockholm switchboard at Electra Records, RCA’s Elvis licensee in Sweden, was swamped with calls. Some of the callers were fans, but most were dealers who sold out their Elvis records. “We’ll never have an artist of that stature again,” stated Lennard Andersson, Electra’s press officer. “There is no one to match him with any other company in the world. It was a great and sad loss. As for sales, it was just like a pre-Christmas rush, though one based solely on Elvis product.”

Electra found itself better positioned for the sudden demand for Elvis vinyl than most European companies. The summer had been used for stocking, and supplementary orders had already been placed on most Presley recordings. As a result, the company had 68 different Presley LPs and about 50 singles in stock when the demand wave hit.

Billboard reported on the quick reaction by Swedish stores. “One shop in Stockholm devoted a whole display window for a special memorial display with sleeves, white carnations and Presley pictures. Most book shops arranged special Elvis displays. Swedish TV-2 has already scheduled the screening of several Elvis movies.”

• FINLAND

Although Elvis’ Finnish fan club became inactive in the 1960s, Billboard reported “widespread shock among pop fans in Finland over Presley’s death.” Magazine tributes were “building up to a tremendous coverage peak.”

During the 1960s, when Presley’s popularity peaked in Finland, his records accounted for 20% of total annual sales for Discophon, RCA’s licensee in the country. Elvis’s best-known record there was “It’s Now or Never” (close to 30,000 copies sold). In the 1970s, Presley sales leveled off to between 10,000-15,000 per year. Only a month before his death, Kid Galahad became the first Presley film to be seen on television in Finland.

After his death, Discophon quickly sold out its stock of Presley records. Producing new ones took up to two weeks, mainly due to printing of the sleeves. In the interim, Finnish Elvis fans searched out the direct import stores.

• DENMARK

Hede Nielsen, RCA’s distributor in Denmark, sent dealers the 9,000 Presley albums that it had in stock. It then faced the difficult task of meeting a firm demand of 80,000 more with help from plants in Italy, France, Germany, the U.K., and Canada. Pressure from retailers finally forced the company to close its orders office.

The company’s managing director explained that the HN tried to get Elvis records directly from the U.S. “We promised American RCA we would cover up the Victor dog on the labels, but they would not send the records because of that copyright problem. But we were desperate for Presley product.”

Planned soon on Danish TV was a play written by Dan Turell and Edmondt Jensen, based on the words of American protest singer, Phil Ochs: “The only possibility in the U.S. for a humane society would be a revolution with Elvis Presley as leader.”

• IRELAND

Irish Record Factors and Soloman and Peres jointly handled distribution of Presley records in Ireland. Following Elvis’ death, IRF cleared out its remaining stock of Presley vinyl in two days; S & P did the same in one day.

Already in the works was “Elvis,” a musical based on the singer’s life. Developed by Irish promoter Noel Pearson, it was set to open in Cork in October 1977. Cahir O’Doherty had the lead role, with other local actors portraying Colonel Parker, Bill Haley, and The Beatles. A 12-inch single Elvis tribute disc featuring O’Doherty was in the pipeline from CBS Ireland.

• CZECHOSLOVAKIA

“The news of Elvis Presley’s passing had a wide impact in Czechoslovakia,” according to Billboard, this in spite of the fact that Presley recordings had never been pressed and distributed within the country. RCA had no licensee for Presley products in the communist nation. Some records, however, came in from India, which at times provided Czechoslovakia with licensed products.

“Yet Presley was enormously popular,” Billboard reported, “especially among the generation who were in their teens in the early ’60s. He was probably the only foreign pop star who had an active fan club here, and some local cover versions of his hits are among the most important recordings in Czech pop history.”

• ITALY

Even though Presley had had no major hits in Italy since the early sixties, his death was widely covered by Italian radio, television, and the press.

RCA Italiana announced it would release a special Elvis commemorative album of tracks selected by the Italian fan club (Club Amici Di Elvis Presley). Livio Monari, president of the 1,000-member club, said, “As soon as we have permission from the U.S.A., the special album will be prepared. The club members have mostly selected numbers from recent recordings in order to show that he was still a major international star.”

Monari had received hundreds of phone calls at the club headquarters in Rocanati. “Many fans asked us to arrange a trip to Memphis for the funeral,” he said, “but there was not enough time to organize it. Next year we shall go and visit the grave.”

• SPAIN

Spain was one of the few major European countries that did not experience a boom in record sales after Elvis' death. The news “provoked a mass of retrospectives and news stories in the media here,” reported Billboard’s Spanish contributor, “but at street level the reaction was somewhat more subdued—a sign that the Presley cult was not as deeply rooted here as elsewhere in Europe.”

During the early years of his career, Elvis was not promoted in Spain, where the music industry was then dominated by South American dance music. His followers in the fifties were considered a “sophisticated elite who were in touch with trends in the ‘outside word.’ By the time the Spanish record industry caught up with the rest of Europe, Elvis had evolved into what local teenagers regarded as a ‘light-weight family entertainer.’”

Of course, the commercial upheaval following Elvis’ passing in 1977 occurred in other parts of world besides North America and Europe. It was felt as well in Australia and the Far East, particularly in Japan. It’s ironic that the tragedy of his passing helped to illuminate the magnitude of Elvis’ international stardom. — Alan Hanson | © March 2010

The Presley sales boom was less pronounced in France than in other Northern European countries. French pop music fans had never bought into rock ’n’ roll as much as the English-speaking countries on the continent. Still, most French newspapers gave frontpage coverage to Elvis’ death, with “Le Monde” describing the singer as “the demon of rock.


see also
https://www.elvis.com.au/presley/one-bi ... ales.shtml

https://www.elvis-atouchofgold.com/popularity/


https://www.elvisinfonet.com/elvis_sale ... roger.html

https://www.elvis.net/guinness/guinness.html

Great information Nina, thank you for posting it.

[Sweet-Angeline]

According to elvisinfonet the reissue of Moody Blue from 2000 has been issued a silver disc in the Uk for sales of 60,000 copies.
Obviously this is in addition to the original album.

it would be nice if RIAA USA would come around with an update of awards for Elvis

...pretty sure that requires Sony Music to submit something and they have not done that for years

[FanFrom'61]

According to elvisinfonet the reissue of Moody Blue from 2000 has been issued a silver disc in the Uk for sales of 60,000 copies.
Obviously this is in addition to the original album.

it would be nice if RIAA USA would come around with an update of awards for Elvis

...pretty sure that requires Sony Music to submit something and they have not done that for years

And to pay an audit fee too. But there’s only one album that has seen a significant increase in sales in the US over the last few years and that’s 30 #1s.

[TheKingOfMusicEP]

According to elvisinfonet the reissue of Moody Blue from 2000 has been issued a silver disc in the Uk for sales of 60,000 copies.
Obviously this is in addition to the original album.

it would be nice if RIAA USA would come around with an update of awards for Elvis

...pretty sure that requires Sony Music to submit something and they have not done that for years

sad but true
it would be a nice, so they would have some news to advertise the new movie coming up

[FanFrom'61]

According to elvisinfonet the reissue of Moody Blue from 2000 has been issued a silver disc in the Uk for sales of 60,000 copies.
Obviously this is in addition to the original album.

it would be nice if RIAA USA would come around with an update of awards for Elvis

...pretty sure that requires Sony Music to submit something and they have not done that for years

sad but true
it would be a nice, so they would have some news to advertise the new movie coming up

Sony are not alone in not submitting data and paying an audit fee. Capitol are just as guilty with The Beatles catalogue - there must be three or four of their albums that need updating by several million units on each of the albums I guess it is no longer important these days.

[LSP-4445]

From memory I think Elvis had about 7 albums in the top 50 at the same time just after his death.

The chart problem is that at the time of Elvis’s death, I heard there were over 100 different RCA/Camden titles
that record stores could order from RCA.
This means there could potentially be over 100 different titles available for retail sale, giving the public a
huge variety to choose from.
It would have been impossible for most of those albums to reach the Top 10 or Top 20 charts under
those circumstances — but obviously, Elvis sold a lot of albums after August 16.

[FanFrom'61]

From memory I think Elvis had about 7 albums in the top 50 at the same time just after his death.

The chart problem is that at the time of Elvis’s death, I heard there were over 100 different RCA/Camden titles
that record stores could order from RCA.
This means there could potentially be over 100 different titles available for retail sale, giving the public a
huge variety to choose from.
It would have been impossible for most of those albums to reach the Top 10 or Top 20 charts under
those circumstances — but obviously, Elvis sold a lot of albums after August 16.

According to RCA and Billboard, there were 54 titles on catalogue to choose from including some Pickwick titles . Record dealers would order what they considered were going to be good guaranteed sellers and RCA would be concentrating on pressing those too. The dealers would not risk stuffing the shelves with items which were questionable sellers like lots of the 60’s movie soundtracks etc. But an album could get into the very bottom of the Billboard 200 with sales of around 20k/25k units. It is quite surprising that the Moody Blue album only peaked at #3 and remained there for 3 weeks and was prevented from getting to the top by Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album at #1 which had already been on the chart for 31 weeks and the Star Wars soundtrack at #2. Out of Moody Blue’s 31 weeks on the chart, only 11 of those were in the Top 20.

On the sub genre Country chart, there were 11 titles, including five from the main chart plus The Sun Sessions, From EP Boulevard, Today, Pure Gold, Legendary Performer Vol 2 and His Hand in Mine?? What is bizarre is that His Hand in Mine or How Great Thou Art did not feature in the Gospel album chart.

Looking at some global charts in mid September from France, Australia, Spain, Japan, Argentina, Sweden and Switzerland, only Australia and Sweden had Moody Blue in the lower half of their Top 10 album chart - the Way Down single did not appear at all in any of them.

[NinaFromCanadaEh]

Great information Nina, thank you for posting it.

kindly welcome

Glad that Elvis site is still around

too many have disappeared

[NinaFromCanadaEh]

From memory I think Elvis had about 7 albums in the top 50 at the same time just after his death.

The chart problem is that at the time of Elvis’s death, I heard there were over 100 different RCA/Camden titles
that record stores could order from RCA.
This means there could potentially be over 100 different titles available for retail sale, giving the public a
huge variety to choose from.
It would have been impossible for most of those albums to reach the Top 10 or Top 20 charts under
those circumstances — but obviously, Elvis sold a lot of albums after August 16.

yes. that was partly how they profited from Elvis and ripped him off

so many same released during his life and after

so many product lines

But Elvis showed there was no end to his marketing as well as the idea of long tail marketing

Elvis fans cannot be over saturated

[LSP-4445]

From memory I think Elvis had about 7 albums in the top 50 at the same time just after his death.

The chart problem is that at the time of Elvis’s death, I heard there were over 100 different RCA/Camden titles
that record stores could order from RCA.
This means there could potentially be over 100 different titles available for retail sale, giving the public a
huge variety to choose from.
It would have been impossible for most of those albums to reach the Top 10 or Top 20 charts under
those circumstances — but obviously, Elvis sold a lot of albums after August 16.

According to RCA and Billboard, there were 54 titles on catalogue to choose from including some Pickwick titles . Record dealers would order what they considered were going to be good guaranteed sellers and RCA would be concentrating on pressing those too. The dealers would not risk stuffing the shelves with items which were questionable sellers like lots of the 60’s movie soundtracks etc. But an album could get into the very bottom of the Billboard 200 with sales of around 20k/25k units. It is quite surprising that the Moody Blue album only peaked at #3 and remained there for 3 weeks and was prevented from getting to the top by Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album at #1 which had already been on the chart for 31 weeks and the Star Wars soundtrack at #2. Out of Moody Blue’s 31 weeks on the chart, only 11 of those were in the Top 20.

On the sub genre Country chart, there were 11 titles, including five from the main chart plus The Sun Sessions, From EP Boulevard, Today, Pure Gold, Legendary Performer Vol 2 and His Hand in Mine?? What is bizarre is that His Hand in Mine or How Great Thou Art did not feature in the Gospel album chart.

Looking at some global charts in mid September from France, Australia, Spain, Japan, Argentina, Sweden and Switzerland, only Australia and Sweden had Moody Blue in the lower half of their Top 10 album chart - the Way Down single did not appear at all in any of them.

I think there were a lot more than 54 titles, but I’m talking about the UK and Germany. The number of compilation albums released here, even before Elvis’s death, is huge.
Regarding Moody Blue in the US — I don’t think it’s surprising that it peaked at the third spot, considering how many different titles were for sale. The average customer often just wanted to buy an Elvis album and chose whatever was available. In a perfect world, they would all have bought classics like Elvis Is Back! and From Elvis in Memphis, but that didn’t happen.
Moody Blue not only had to compete with groups like Fleetwood Mac for the number one spot, but also against other Elvis titles.
It’s also said that RCA was keen on pressing and selling mostly albums for which they held 100% copyright ownership after the 1973 record deal buyout.

[FanFrom'61]

From memory I think Elvis had about 7 albums in the top 50 at the same time just after his death.

The chart problem is that at the time of Elvis’s death, I heard there were over 100 different RCA/Camden titles
that record stores could order from RCA.
This means there could potentially be over 100 different titles available for retail sale, giving the public a
huge variety to choose from.
It would have been impossible for most of those albums to reach the Top 10 or Top 20 charts under
those circumstances — but obviously, Elvis sold a lot of albums after August 16.

yes. that was partly how they profited from Elvis and ripped him off

so many same released during his life and after

so many product lines

But Elvis showed there was no end to his marketing as well as the idea of long tail marketing

Elvis fans cannot be over saturated

Interesting comments although I’m not sure it was Elvis who showed there was no end to his marketing but rather his record company. By the early 1970’s, I’m not sure Elvis gave much of a damn about how his records were being marketed and released at all, and for an artist of Elvis’ calibre, once he had recorded the required number of songs, there seemed to be zilch interest in anything else involved in a record release. I wonder what he really thought when he saw that awful shot of him on the Aloha album as an example. It’s difficult to believe he signed off on it.

But I digress. I believe many would suggest it is the collector fans as opposed to Elvis fans in general who are being ripped off and not Elvis himself. That said, I’m not sure there was any ripping off whilst he was alive, although it could be argued that there was an element of that going in with some soundtrack albums lasting a paltry 22 minutes worth of playing time. However, many would say there was and still is a lot of ripping off for the collector fan is since his death.

Of course the reality is that even with the hundreds of re-releases and revamped releases that have come since his death in the last 48 years, is this really ripping people off after all, nobody has been holding a gun to anyone’s head and forcing them to buy these releases. I mean how many times do people need to buy all the Christmas releases that have appeared and that contain the same few songs. Ripping people off generally occurs by making them pay too much money for something.

So on that basis, it could certainly be argued that Sony and FTD are ripping collector fans off in more recent years by releasing stuff that mainly contains recordings already released but also contains a few unreleased tracks. You only have to see how FTD work. They release huge big book/CD combo sets which the completists will buy and then several months later, they release just the music which the completists buy again. It’s going to happen with the forthcoming G I Blues set. And this music only set will only contain a minuscule number of unreleased outtakes as most of them are already on the two Classic Album sets.

Of course they also do other questionable things to make these big box sets seem more attractive by including random things that collectors don’t really need like the inclusion of some random vinyl EP. It’s almost like they get included to also help justify the mega high price charged.

It’s the same with the new session set series. Generally speaking, they have only contained an extra 15-20 minutes of unreleased takes yet fans are having to pay for stuff they already have yet again if they want to get a few morsels of unreleased takes.

But I think we have reached the point where many collector fans have drawn the proverbial line in the sand and are voting with closed wallets. And even the average fan is not that interested in recent releases whether it be from Sony mainstream or FTD. You only have to look at the low sales numbers. It seems there are far more fans on certain Elvis Facebook groups than there are who buy the new releases these days.

[FanFrom'61]

From memory I think Elvis had about 7 albums in the top 50 at the same time just after his death.

The chart problem is that at the time of Elvis’s death, I heard there were over 100 different RCA/Camden titles
that record stores could order from RCA.
This means there could potentially be over 100 different titles available for retail sale, giving the public a
huge variety to choose from.
It would have been impossible for most of those albums to reach the Top 10 or Top 20 charts under
those circumstances — but obviously, Elvis sold a lot of albums after August 16.

According to RCA and Billboard, there were 54 titles on catalogue to choose from including some Pickwick titles . Record dealers would order what they considered were going to be good guaranteed sellers and RCA would be concentrating on pressing those too. The dealers would not risk stuffing the shelves with items which were questionable sellers like lots of the 60’s movie soundtracks etc. But an album could get into the very bottom of the Billboard 200 with sales of around 20k/25k units. It is quite surprising that the Moody Blue album only peaked at #3 and remained there for 3 weeks and was prevented from getting to the top by Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album at #1 which had already been on the chart for 31 weeks and the Star Wars soundtrack at #2. Out of Moody Blue’s 31 weeks on the chart, only 11 of those were in the Top 20.

On the sub genre Country chart, there were 11 titles, including five from the main chart plus The Sun Sessions, From EP Boulevard, Today, Pure Gold, Legendary Performer Vol 2 and His Hand in Mine?? What is bizarre is that His Hand in Mine or How Great Thou Art did not feature in the Gospel album chart.

Looking at some global charts in mid September from France, Australia, Spain, Japan, Argentina, Sweden and Switzerland, only Australia and Sweden had Moody Blue in the lower half of their Top 10 album chart - the Way Down single did not appear at all in any of them.

I think there were a lot more than 54 titles, but I’m talking about the UK and Germany. The number of compilation albums released here, even before Elvis’s death, is huge.
Regarding Moody Blue in the US — I don’t think it’s surprising that it peaked at the third spot, considering how many different titles were for sale. The average customer often just wanted to buy an Elvis album and chose whatever was available. In a perfect world, they would all have bought classics like Elvis Is Back! and From Elvis in Memphis, but that didn’t happen.
Moody Blue not only had to compete with groups like Fleetwood Mac for the number one spot, but also against other Elvis titles.
It’s also said that RCA was keen on pressing and selling mostly albums for which they held 100% copyright ownership after the 1973 record deal buyout.

Well the 54 titles obviously referred to the US catalogue as it was reported by an RCA spokesperson in Billboard.

In the UK up until his death, there had been 93 actual physical releases, but that number includes original releases that had been deleted from the catalogue and re-released again. There were around 10 main titles that got re-issued in the early 70s. and there were several soundtracks that had been deleted and the International label releases that had also been deleted when the recordings were made available to Camden and Pickwick. So you could probably remove around 30 titles from that number of 93 releases to choose from, but not all of that remaining balance of 63 would have been readily available anyhow.

Regarding the Moody Blue album, RCA would have given that priority as it was his latest release and readily available at the pressing plant. RCA would not have carried huge stocks of all the other back catalogue albums just waiting for an unexpected event to happen and in 1977, it is unlikely that record stores would have carried much of a selection anyhow - probably the most recent releases and a few of the better selling albums from recent years would have been in the racks, hence the reason why a few of the more recent releases appeared in the Country chart, but still not enough sales to get into the main chart.

But you’re correct about Moody Blue having to compete with Rumours, because people were not buying Moody Blue because of the music it contained - the album was only selling pretty well and reached #3 because of the event from the 16th August - It is doubtful that it would have even made the Top 20 had Elvis not have died. But that would have been the album uppermost on the minds of record store owners when placing orders and more easily available to get from RCA.

Regarding your comment about a perfect world and people would have bought Elvis Is Back and/or From Elvis in Memphis, only in the Elvis fanbase are those two albums regarded as ‘classic’ albums. For Joe Public, they are not seen in that way and did not sell in huge numbers when originally released to start off with. FEIM certainly sold a lot more than what had come before in recent years and off the back of Elvis’ comeback, and whilst both albums are generally regarded as containing some of Elvis’ best recordings, they have never been categorised as being classic albums in the truest sense, even these days.

[NinaFromCanadaEh]

Elvis did not want the GI Blues soundtrack at all and it outsold the far better Elvis is Back

Blue hawaii sealed his fate both with the soundtrack and proving Parker right that people just wanted a slight plot of Elvis getting married, scenery and songs-- over acting attempts like King Creole, Flaming Star and Wild in the Country

Elvis was too burnt out by Change of Habit which actually was a socially relevant flick, without Elvis' storyline of seducing for marriage the nun


with Parker booking him into the same tours, Elvis could go out and make money when he needed it

Had he outlived Parker, he would have had better management maybe who cared about the quality of his work..maaybe.. I think Parker's working artists to death is more common in the industry - the Amy Winehouse documentary was chilling when the promoter said that drugs were deemed a family problem..


I recall from various Memphis Mafia member books that Elvis seemed to be retreating more and more into gospel, which was how Little Richard became irrelevant before


I do not think Elvis woulda coped with the AIDs decades


when Marty lacker was doing a column on EIN, he was astonished the fans wanted to hear every take

Elvis would been shocked we wanted every scrap of studio banter, burps and farts too