Elvis’ Double-Sided Hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (1969–1977)
Were Elvis’ double-sided hits of the ’70s actually two hits or just one?
FROM ELVIS PRESLEY’S FIRST RECORD in 1954 through 1968, the major national pop charts were tallied in such a way that both sides of a single could make the chart as individual hits independent of one another. This greatly benefited Elvis, as his singles usually carried two strong sides, each capable of being an A-side. This was definitely not a universal practice in the music business at the time.
Of the publications in America that documented the hit parade via a weekly chart, the Billboard Hot 100 was a strange brew that combined three very different factors:
• the number of records sold in retail outlets,
• the number of plays on jukeboxes, and
• the number of spins on the radio.
The exact weight each factor was given is not known, but B-sides of hot artists fared noticeably better on Billboard than on the sales-based charts of competing publications such as Cash Box and Record World. This would seem to imply that jukebox plays and airplay had a pronounced effect on the ranking.
Because of Presley’s unprecedented popularity, he benefitted by this system and wound up…
