Elvis By Request : The Australian Edition CD debuts at No. 4

The Elvis By Request : The Australian Edition CD has debuted at No. 4 on the Australian ARIA Album Charts.

This is the equal highest chart position of any release since ELV1S : 30 #1 Hits [2002] 10 years ago. Three albums, 'Elvis : 2nd To None' [2003], 'Elvis : The King' [2007] and 'The Romantic' [1994] reached No. 4 however not on debut. 'From The Heart' peaked at No. 5 in 1992 and 'Presley : All Time Greatest Hits' No. 7 the previous year. 'Elvis Presley : 50 Australian Top Ten Hits 1956-1977' debuted at No. 9 in January 2010.

The 'Elvis By Request' album contains the 40 favourite Elvis songs as voted for by his Australian fans. To debut at No. 4 is a most remarkable achievement particularly at this time of year. While the album has benefited from some very clever marketing from Sony Music, all the promotion in the world won't sell a turkey, so clearly the concept has appealed as we expected it would. So with a great concept, title, cover art, fan picked track listing and the massive media coverage of the release we have Elvis riding high on the charts once more.

And all Sony US of A could muster was 3,330 copies sold of "I Am An Elvis Fan".

Good job Aussies ...

Well done

Troy has written a good review of the release on his Mystery Train Blog.

Brilliant David.

And all Sony US of A could muster was 3,330 copies sold of "I Am An Elvis Fan".

Good job Aussies ...

told you it coud be done, remember your quote below from another thread,

"There is no more market at retail for Elvis anymore" no need to appologise, it`s all good my friend!!

It was good to read on the Australia ARIA album Charts that this cd has come in at Number 4, which would make it a possibility of becoming a Gold Album if sales continue this way over the coming weeks.
That would be quite a good result then wouldn't it!
It was to be expected that this album would not chart on the Album Downloads Chart, and it did not, but hey its better to have the cd enter the album charts Australia wide than not at all

I wonder what the sales figures were to achieve such a good result? Recently an artist had a Number one album in the UK after only selling just over 3,000 copies?

bob

Outstanding!

Yes this is amazing/outstanding!~ ANY publicity helps....even 'bad publicity'!~

The Elvis By Request : The Australian Edition CD has debuted at No. 4 on the Australian ARIA Album Charts.

Can you please tell us how many copies were sold?

And all Sony US of A could muster was 3,330 copies sold of "I Am An Elvis Fan".

Good job Aussies ...

told you it coud be done, remember your quote below from another thread,

"There is no more market at retail for Elvis anymore" no need to appologise, it`s all good my friend!!

Apoligize for what, you admittedly have no clue at how music sales and retail has plummeted in the last 5 years.

There is no appetite for Elvis' music at retail anymore in the UNITED STATES, you dig ? Obviously not.

Again, good job on the efforts of the Australian Elvis fans.

By the way, what were sales figures in Australia to debut at #4 Bob ?

This sounds good!

Congrats, Australia! I have to say that the tracklisting is interesting.

Well I cannot advise you what the current sales figures are for this cd at this stage because of all my years associated with Elvis research these figures have never been released to the Public.
In the olden days when vinyl was around RCA Australia did give fan clubs the figures, and when they converted to $ sales, it was easy to work out how many records were sold.
But when cds came in and RCA went to BMG then finally to Sony Music figures were not supplied.
I can remember when BMG Australia issued the first cd single here, we asked for the sales figures but the new policy was :"No Figures to be given out". In time we found out tha if they had printed a few more thousand copies the Single would have achieved GOLD STATUS" in due course, because they sold all that were made and WOULD NOT repress any more copies t for sale for Elvis fans around Australia.

i will ask Sony, but I might have to buy a lottery ticket to get the answer??

regards bob

Apoligize for what, you admittedly have no clue at how music sales and retail has plummeted in the last 5 years.

There is no appetite for Elvis' music at retail anymore in the UNITED STATES, you dig ? Obviously not.

first of all I was the one who clearly stated that sales have diminished greatly over the last ten years (check the other post) so you really need to do alot more research before making such blatant remarks!! Check your own comments regarding the new Christmas compilation thread started by me! My point was and still is very clear, Sony U.S failed miserably with the I AM AN ELVIS FAN release and again I repeat the market has changed drastically since 30#1 HITS but your statement was very clear, "There is no more market at retail for Elvis anymore" and that is simply untrue. The fact remains is that the Elvis market has diminished alot since 2002 but it is still possible to achieve something much, much better than the I AM AN ELVIS FAN results! Sony screwed up, that`s it, end of story and as you come to the end of this thread, learn a little manners as you exit, good day!!

Apoligize for what, you admittedly have no clue at how music sales and retail has plummeted in the last 5 years.

There is no appetite for Elvis' music at retail anymore in the UNITED STATES, you dig ? Obviously not.

first of all I was the one who clearly stated that sales have diminished greatly over the last ten years (check the other post) so you really need to do alot more research before making such blatant remarks!! Check your own comments regarding the new Christmas compilation thread started by me! My point was and still is very clear, Sony U.S failed miserably with the I AM AN ELVIS FAN release and again I repeat the market has changed drastically since 30#1 HITS but your statement was very clear, "There is no more market at retail for Elvis anymore" and that is simply untrue. The fact remains is that the Elvis market has diminished alot since 2002 but it is still possible to achieve something much, much better than the I AM AN ELVIS FAN results! Sony screwed up, that`s it, end of story and as you come to the end of this thread, learn a little manners as you exit, good day!!

I'm obviously dealing with an uneducated, very misguided and troubled indivdual, so with that, goodnight my friend.

May you have a blessed and safe, peaceful night.

It would have sold by itself...it didn't need fools on the bridge.

Carolyn NO IT COULD NOT.
It was NOT the fools on the bridge that helped, but the massive media time given crossing live to the bridge and mentioning and showing the album that was the key. Both channel 7 and 9 devoted a good deal of time on the morning. And I will say for the last time the commercial value of this time was incalculable. [Definition: countless, limitless]. Before we all criticise, come up with another way to get this media coverage with out paying a 'countless, limitless' amount of dollars. When I saw it my reaction was the exact same as yours, but when I went though the recording and saw how many times the album was mentioned and shown on national TV I though differently. And while I too find people dressed like this offensive, frankly it did no harm.

The fact remains is that the Elvis market has diminished alot since 2002 but it is still possible to achieve something much, much better than the I AM AN ELVIS FAN results! Sony screwed up, that`s it, end of story....

Not exactly. In the U.S., there is no way an Elvis reissue cracks the top 5. No matter what gimmick you employ, the days of moving significant units, particularly in the present music retail climate in the U.S., is over.

The fact remains is that the Elvis market has diminished alot since 2002 but it is still possible to achieve something much, much better than the I AM AN ELVIS FAN results! Sony screwed up, that`s it, end of story....

Not exactly. In the U.S., there is no way an Elvis reissue cracks the top 5. No matter what gimmick you employ, the days of moving significant units, particularly in the present music retail climate in the U.S., is over.

But the US is different in that sales are largely based on radio play is it not. In fact in sale Elvis does reasonable well I think.

In US... as the handful of remaining music stores vanishes, and the big boxes like Wal-Mart and Best Buy keep cutting back the space they allot to discs... not much left. Music Retail Going, Going, Just About Gone.

The Elvis By Request : The Australian Edition CD has debuted at No. 4 on the Australian ARIA Album Charts.

Can you please tell us how many copies were sold?

They are actually quite good as you would expect for a #4 chart spot. But these figures are kept confidential.

But regardless it would be of little point to compare sales figures in Australia with a population of 22 million compared to the 300 million in the United States or even the 51 million in England.

A Gold record in Australia is achieved with 35,000 sales. Platinum is 70,000 units. In the United States it Gold requires 1 Million sales, in England Gold is 100,000 sales.

I am told it is very difficult to achieve Gold status today. CDs apparently don't sell as well as they used too. I can understand that with music that appeals to the younger market, they download, but I would have thought an Elvis album immune from this. Apparently not. Maybe people are more in to their smart phones these days!

This sounds good!
Congrats, Australia! :D I have to say that the tracklisting is interesting.

This post is a good exaple of what i have to say here.

On the Sony promotion, I have received a lot of feedback on the bridge stunt, Australians have been probably 50/50, I take this to mean that some they are embarrassed for their country, and I do understand it 100%, but from overseas the reaction is almost 100% 'congratulations Australia WE DID NOT EVEN HEAR OR SEE NA PUBLICITY HERE'. So a different perspective.

As for 'I Am An Elvis Fan' my personal opinion right from the start was that it is a dumb idea all-round. A DUMB title, the restricted song selection and categories was less than desirable, for example on the last point there are TWO versions of 'Suspicious Minds' on the single CD which is stupid in my opinion.

And my view was and is that the CD would only appeal to those that voted for it.

Whereas the Australian Edition has as we know not only 2 CDs and 40 songs, to me it has a great cover, a very good title, 'Elvis By Request', a better concept around. That should appeal to fans and anyone just interested in Elvis. I don't think we should judge the US to harshly, that was the idea, Sony Australia just came up with a better one.

Do members here really care a hoot about what yet another hackneyed Elvis compilation does on the charts? "Elvis By Request" is no better in concept than "I Am An Elvis Fan" - they have both resulted in silly track-lists. One just contains more songs than the other.

"50 Australian Top Ten Hits 1956-1977" was a decent concept for a regional compilation that only 2 years later seems to be redundant now. Is it even still available for purchase off the racks?

You don't have to yell at me David.......
In My Opinion, the album would have sold just as much if those fools with horrible wigs hadn't climbed the bridge.....I'm not saying that the promotion on the morning shows wasn't warranted, I am saying that it didn't need the people on the bridge.
this is the end of this duscussion for me, I have made my own point, and I will stick by it.....nothing will change my mind......I will not stand by and see people make fun of Elvis and his music.....even if it is to sell cds......
and to make matters worse....the girl up there doing the weather or whatever she was doing said something like.....today was Elvis' BIRTHDAY and he died 35 years ago......
it was just a stupid idea from the start......and anyone who had had any input into it should have at least tried to stop the stunt.
That's it, I'm finished with this......no more discussion on any level or any form from me.

Carolyn okay no problem. I was not having a 'go at you' just giving you my opinion just as you are. This is a GREAT forum with GREAT moderators that allows us all to express things, sometimes things get a little out of and but that is nothing compared to elsewhere.

But without the people on the bridge there would have been no crosses to it, nor any publicity. And yes, I found that woman that I described to Sony as having 'ants in her pants' VERY offensive. Sony will look to do another promotion for the 40th, if anyone can suggest a genuine practical alternative let's hear it.

Do members here really care a hoot about what yet another hackneyed Elvis compilation does on the charts? "Elvis By Request" is no better in concept than "I Am An Elvis Fan" - they have both resulted in silly track-lists. One just contains more songs than the other.

"50 Australian Top Ten Hits 1956-1977" was a decent concept for a regional compilation that only 2 years later seems to be redundant now. Is it even still available for purchase off the racks?

Well I do. And if you read the posts there are other too!!!

The general public and 'general fans' want this.

How can you criticise what someone else likes? The album will sell far more copies than any FTD release.

From there many may progress onto digging deeper and discovering Elvis in depth, and then on to FTD etc.

This is where I started as we all did, on compilations, did you not?

For me, 'Rock 'n' On', 'Elvis In The 70s, 'All The Best' [I think all Australian], 'This Is Elvis' was a huge thing for me, then I started buying the actual albums, 'On Stage' I remember being huge to me on discovering it when I was 16 or so, and 'Madison Square Garden' I still remember the shock when Elvis picked up the tempo in Hound Dog.

Then the 'Essential Elvis' series, and then YES, FTD.

The fact remains is that the Elvis market has diminished alot since 2002 but it is still possible to achieve something much, much better than the I AM AN ELVIS FAN results! Sony screwed up, that`s it, end of story....

Not exactly. In the U.S., there is no way an Elvis reissue cracks the top 5. No matter what gimmick you employ, the days of moving significant units, particularly in the present music retail climate in the U.S., is over.

But the US is different in that sales are largely based on radio play is it not. In fact in sale Elvis does reasonable well I think.

You are way off base. When music retail in the US was experiencing a sales boom of physical product; archival releases could often move impressive numbers. Not the tiny 3000 figures one now sees with Elvis product. Radio had nothing to do with it. The physical medium was a viable method of entertainment and something needed and something in demand. That era has passed mainstream needs and consumption. With regards to a modern-day Elvis compilation moving large numbers in the U.S. -- promotion and airplay will not generate huge sales numbers. It won't happen. And as others have pointed out; at the end of the day, who cares about another pointless compilation that will have no lasting impact on commercial music and Elvis' artistic legacy?