Elvis Presley - Presley in the 21st century

Interest in Presley's recordings returned during the buildup to the 2002 World Cup, when Nike used a Junkie XL remixed version of his "A Little Less Conversation" (credited as "Elvis Vs JXL") as the background music to a series of TV commercials featuring international soccer stars. The remix hit number one in over 20 countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia. At about the same time, a compilation of Presley's US and UK Number 1 hits, Elv1s: 30, was being prepared for release. "A Little Less Conversation" (remix version) was quickly added as the album's 31st track just before release in October 2002. Further stimulating popularity for the remixed "new" Elvis song, was the inclusion of Conversation into the opening credits of the NBC series Las Vegas; due to the large expense of such a song, however, home DVD sets of the TV show feature Conversation in the Pilot episode only. Nearly 50 years after Presley made his first hit record and 25 years after his death, the compilation reached number one on the charts in the US, the UK, Australia and many other countries. A re-release from it, "Burning Love" (not a remix), also made the Australian top 40 later in the year.

Presley's renewed fame continued with another remix in 2003 (this time by Paul Oakenfold) of "Rubberneckin'", which made the top three in Australia and top five in the UK. This was followed by another album called 2nd to None, a collection of his hits, including the "Rubberneckin'" remix, that just failed to reach number one.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary in mid-2004 of Presley's first professional recording, "That's All Right", it was re-released, and made the charts around the world, including top three in the UK and top 40 in Australia.

In early 2005 in the United Kingdom, RCA began to re-issue Presley's 18 UK number-one singles as CD-singles in the order they were originally released, one of them a week. The first of these re-issues, "All Shook Up", was ineligible to chart due to its being sold together with a collector's box which holds all 18 singles in it (it actually sold enough to be number two). The second, "Jailhouse Rock", was the number one in the first chart of 2005, and "One Night"/"I Got Stung", the third in the series, replaced it on the January 16 chart (and thus becoming the 1000th UK number one entry).

All of these have reached top five in the official charts. These re-releases have made Presley the only artist so far to spend at least 1000 weeks in the British top 40.

On the UK singles charts, Presley went to #1 the most times (21, three of them hitting #1 twice), spent the most weeks there (80), as well as had the most top tens and top forty hits. In the UK album charts, he is third (1,280 Weeks) to Queen (1,422 Weeks) and the Beatles (1,293 Weeks), as well as earning the most top ten, and top forty albums. Still in the album category, his longevity record boasts an almost fifty year gap between his first, and last hit album.

In total, he has spent 2,574 weeks in both the UK singles and album charts, way ahead of his closest competitors, namely Cliff Richard (1,982), Queen (1,755), the Beatles (1,749), and Madonna (1,660).

In 2005 CBS aired a TV miniseries, Elvis starring Irish actor Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Presley.

Shortly after taking over the management of all things Elvis from the Elvis Presley Estate (EPE) (which retained a 15% stake in the new company, while keeping Graceland and the bulk of the possessions found therein), Robert Sillerman's CKX company produced a DVD and CD featuring Presley (titled "Elvis by the Presleys"), as well as an accompanying two-hour documentary broadcast on Viacom's CBS Network, which alone generated $5.5 million.

A channel on the Sirius Satellite Radio subscriber service is devoted to the life and music of Presley, with all broadcasts originating from Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.

In a list of the greatest English language singers of the 20th century, as compiled by BBC Radio, Presley was ranked second. The poll was topped by Frank Sinatra, with Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald also in the top ten.

In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #3 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

In July of 2005, Presley edged out Oprah Winfrey to be named the Greatest Entertainer in American history in the Greatest American election conducted by the Discovery Channel and America Online.

In mid October of 2005, Variety named the top 100 entertainment icons of the 20th century, with Presley landing on the top ten, along with the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball, Marlon Brando, Humphrey Bogart, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, James Dean and Mickey Mouse.

A week later, Forbes magazine named Presley, for the fifth straight year, the top-earning dead celebrity, grossing US$45 million for the Presley estate during the period from October of 2004, to October 2005. Forbes pointed out that CKX spent $100 million in cash, and stock, for an 85% interest in Presley's income stream in February 2005.

In mid 2006, Forbes up-dated its list, with Presley ranking second, the top place being taken by Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain, after the sale of 25% of his music publishing, which raked US$50 million for the singer's widow.

In November of 2006, Atlantic Magazine asked 10 prominent historians to name the 100 most influential Americans, with Presley (who ranked # 66), along with Louis Armstrong (79), being the only two musicians on the list.

In December 2006 EPE announced a strategy to bring Elvis and his music to a younger demographic in 2007. In addition, in 2009 the world famous Cirque De Soleil organisation will open a show based around Elvis' music.

The 21st century is characterised by the influence of Elvis web sites in communicating information to Elvis fans on a global scale. While the official Elvis web site (www.elvis.com) is essentially a political portal for Elvis Presley Enterprises to promote sales of its authorised merchandise, other sites provide news, reviews and information on a broader scale.

Only two sites provide genuine daily news updates: Elvis Information Network - EIN and Elvis News EIN provides a range of news, reviews, articles and analysis while Elvis News is essentially a news site as its name implies.

On a regional scale there are hundreds of good Elvis sites. Among the most well known are Elvis Matters (Belgium); Elvis Unlimited (Denmark) and Elvis World Japan.

All major sites have something to offer fans and exploring them can be a lot of fun.