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Elvis Demoted In New Billboard Historic Chart

August 08, 2008 | Other
Elvis Presley has mysteriously disappeared from the upper echelons of a new list that ranks the artists with the most No. 1 hits on the U.S. pop singles chart. Until April, Elvis Presley and Mariah Carey tied at No. 2 on Billboard's list of the top acts of the rock era with 17 No. 1 tunes each, behind the Beatles with 20.

But then Carey took sole possession of the silver medal when her single "Touch My Body" hit the top spot. That should still make Presley No. 3, but not according to Billboard which has demoted him to No. 14 with seven No. 1 hits, a ranking he now shares with Phil Collins.
The music publication, which has a news distribution arrangement with Reuters, is rolling out a series of charts to mark the 50th anniversary of its Hot 100 singles chart. The problem for Presley fans is that 10 of his chart-toppers predated the August 4, 1958, birth of the Hot 100.

From November 12, 1955, it was known as the Top 100, the first all-encompassing chart determined by radio play, retail sales and juke box usage.

In those 141 weeks before Billboard debuted the Hot 100 name to differentiate it from copycats, Presley ruled the chart for 57 weeks, according to Billboard. He never regained his commercial or creative momentum after he was inducted into the U.S. Army in March, 1958, according to some fans.

Billboard's director of charts, Geoff Mayfield, defended the chart as still relevant despite the fact it ignores the heyday of the first real rock 'n' roll star.

"We are not pretending that the observation of the chart's 50th anniversary is anything more than a look at those 50 specific years," he wrote in an email.

"We take great care to couch comparisons of younger artists' Hot 100 feats to those of Elvis, by informing readers that his chart feats predated the Hot 100's launch."

Upcoming specialty Billboard rankings will include the biggest one-hit wonders ever and the No. 1 songs of every year since 1958. The series culminates on September 10 with what it bills as the first ranking of the Hot 100 songs of all time.

Just don't expect to see "Heartbreak Hotel" or "Hound Dog" on the list.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
Source:Yahoo News
Brian Quinn wrote on August 08, 2008
Outrageous. Instead of concentrating their efforts on Elvis Impersonators, EPE should be looking at such injustices as that put out by Billboard. Whilst they cannot dispute the way Billboard have come up with the figures, EPE could produce a booklet for worldwide distribution giving a full list of Elvis' achievements and thereby helping to counteract such misleading claims.
genedin wrote on August 08, 2008
brian i fully agree with you and im a impersonator ,lol so go figure. epe has definatly lost sight of its true goal and what it should be.
Lex wrote on August 08, 2008
How come I'm not surprised by the first reaction :-). Who cares, it's up to Billboard to compile whatever list they want, and I think it's just; an anniversary is an anniversay, bad luck for Elvis (and others who scored in those first 3 years). I agree on the imposters. The only imposter-event I can imagine to be fun has to do with real arenas and colliseums; like the Romans used them :-), okay a hunting event might be fun too.
ElvisDayByDay wrote on August 08, 2008
Jack409, all singles besides "ALLC" made it to #1 on the physical sales chart selling around 4000 copies. They didn't make it to the top spot on the Billboard singles chart. The singles chart once was a physical chart, but in the US airplay, jukebox usage, downloads and today even the ringtone sales of a single help it get to the real #1 spot for this chart in this article. That said it is a shame the success of all those early artists who paved the way for today's artist will disappear from the new chart history books ...
Harvey Alexander wrote on August 09, 2008
Outrageous. Instead of concentrating their efforts on remixes, EPE should be looking at such injustices as that put out by Billboard. Whilst they cannot dispute the way Billboard have come up with the figures, EPE could produce a booklet for worldwide distribution giving a full list of Elvis' achievements and thereby helping to counteract such misleading claims. And then they could execute all impersonators and 'disc jockey producers' with computers who make remixes.
John4126 wrote on August 09, 2008
What injustice? This is celebrating the 50th birthday of the hot 100. It's quite clear. Unfortunately a significant amount of Elvis number one's miss out. Nothing misleading about it. You could take it further - the sales of such artists as Hank Williams, Al Jolson, Bing Crosby aren't relected in these type of charts - yet they sold bucket loads of records. Billboard have stated they point out Elvis' achievements in preceeding charts. No big deal.
Steve V wrote on August 09, 2008
Well if it's a 50th anniversary then they look at the charts starting in 1958 and totally ignore 1956-57 when Elvis had his most success. This must be noted in big print I would hope? Otherwise, yes I agree, this is outrageous. Ive hated Billboard for years anyway. I have a lot of old Billboards from the 50's-70's with most of the Elvis record ads in them. If you look at today's magazine, there is little resemblance the those classic issues when the charts were easy to understand and you knew all the artists on them.
Natha wrote on August 09, 2008
Indeed outrageous. It shows that Billboard is there only to please the modern artists and their flock. These are the people they want to reach. Not to give an accurate overview of modern music. So they hide behind statements as 'since the launch'. It reminds me of the early sixties of last century when radio tried to convince my peers that all music from before the present music was not really worthwhile and that the true pioneers were the one of that period. Luckily I knew better! So hail hail rock 'n' roll and the h*ll with billboard and other so called honest charts.
EspenK wrote on August 10, 2008
Jack409: Physical singles are not sold anymore, other than to diehard fans and collectors. A hit-chart based on physical sales alone is no longer possible, it's a thing of the past. The "singles" today are distributed digitally via online stores (and some would even say peer-to-peer filesharing is a huge part of todays single distribution, from a marketing perspective).
Viva wrote on August 15, 2008
Further proof, if it were needed, that the American charts are nothing more than a crooked joke.