Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

New Member in the 'Golden Disc Club' Elvis Presley has sold 11 million single records. T J-H -HESE DAYS you can get into an argument about Elvis Presley almost at the drop of a phonograph record. But there is little room for argument on one point: as a record salesman, the guitar-thumping Tennessean has already won a high place for himself among the best-selling RCA Victor artists of all-time. In the past year, the singer who switched from driving a truck to driving teen-agers crazy, has sold 11,000,000 single records — more than anyone else has ever done in a comparable period. In addition, he has sold better than 2,000,000 albums. In his first year in the big-time, Elvis has made the "Golden Disc Club" — the record industry's All- America Team — with four titles that have sold more than a million copies each. "Don't Be Cruel," with "Hound Dog" on the flip-side, topped the list with 3,200,000 copies, "Love Me Tender" sold 2,300,000, "Heartbreak Hotel" 1,600,000, and "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" 1,200,000. The phenomenal success of Presley's pressings has old-timers talking about him in the same breath with best-selling artists of the past. Altogether, RCA Victor and its predecessor, the Victor Talking Machine Company, have produced sixty "golden discs" with sales of a million or more. The first one was recorded by Enrico Caruso just fifty years ago — "Vesti la giubba." He followed that up with "O sole mio" which also hit the magic million mark. In 1920, Paul Whiteman, the "King of Jazz," re- corded a lilting tune called "Whispering" which became the first pop-record to sell a million copies. In the fast-moving, free-spending days of 1928, everybody was singing, humming or whistling "Ra- mona." Gene Austin recorded the number and it soared over the million mark in just a few months. After "Ramona," there were nine lean years, years in which radio threatened to put the phonograph out of business entirely. Eventually, though, it was radio that became the No. 1 showcase for records and actually revitalized the phonograph industry. This trend began taking shape in 1937 when radio stations from coast to coast started playing a swinging instrumental by Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra, "Marie." It was Dorsey's first golden record. A year later, he recorded "Boogie Woogie," a tune that has since sold nearly 4,500,000 copies, an all-time record for an instrumental. RCA had three other golden rec- ords in 1938 —"Beer Barrel Polka" by Will Glahe, "Jalousie" by Arthur Fiedler conducting the Boston Pops Orchestra, and Artie Shaw's "Begin The Beguine." Four By Glenn Miller The years immediately before Pearl Harbor saw the rise of a great new name on the American musical scene, the name of Glenn Miller. Between 1939 and 1941, he put four numbers on the all-time best-seller list — "In The Mood," "Sunrise Serenade," "Tuxedo Junction," and "Chattanooga Choo Choo." The post-war years have been dominated by vocalists. In fact, between 1946 and 1955 not a single instru- mental disc reached the million mark. Two of the lead- ing vocalists have been Perry Como and Eddie Fisher. Como's first million-copy record was "Prisoner of Love," and he later scored with "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes," and "Hot Diggity." Fisher made the all- time list with "Anytime" and "I Need You Now." Up until 1953, Victor's golden records had been awarded only to soloists or instrumental groups. But the Ames Brothers changed the pattern with "You, You, You," and repeated their success with "Naughty Lady From Shady Lane." Last year, with Como's "Hot Diggity," Kay Starr's "Rock And Roll Waltz," and the four Presley discs, RCA had more records in the magic million class than ever before in a single year. Lawrence W. Kanaga, Vice President and General Manager of the RCA Victor Record Division, summed up the situation like this: "The Presley story isn't the kind that is repeated too often. But when it is repeated, we only hope it happens at RCA Victor." 26 RADIO AGE