Elton John Scores First Number One Single In 16 Years With ‘Cold Heart’
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Elton John scored a musical milestone this week when his latest single, Cold Heart (PNAU remix), a collaboration with Dua Lipa, and Australian dance music trio PNAU, topped the UK singles chart.
Sir Elton now holds the distinction of being the first artist to chart a top ten single in the UK in each of the past six decades. The song is Elton’s first number one hit in the UK since 2005, when he collaborated with 2Pac on Ghetto Gospel.
The single has amassed 64,000 chart sales, driven in large part to 5.9 million streams.
Elton, recovering from a hip-replacement surgery, celebrated the historic achievement on social media.
“We did it – UK NUMBER 1!! I cannot begin to tell you how much this means to me. Thank you Dua, PNAU and to everyone who streamed, downloaded, and listened to Cold Heart! You’ve made me feel infinitely better after my surgery and I can’t wait for you to hear the whole of ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ when it comes out next week!”
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Cold Heart Tops The Charts
With Cold Heart claiming the number one chart position, Elton John has now surpassed Elvis, Cher, Cliff Richard, Michael Jackson and David Bowie, all of whom charted at least one top ten single in five different decades.
A mashup of two of Elton’s most iconic hits, 1989’s Sacrifice and 1972’s Rocket Man; Cold Heart is the first single to drop from Elton’s forthcoming album of collaborations, The Lockdown Sessions.
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PNAU, who originally hail from Sydney, have been associated with Elton since 2008, when he first heard their self-titled album and called it the “greatest record he’d heard in ten years.”
Since that time Elton has mentored the group and in 2012 they collaborated on the album Good Morning to the Night, which entered the UK Album Chart in the number one position. The critically acclaimed album used samples of some of Elton’s early 1970s recordings to create new songs.
Cold Heart toppled Ed Sheeran’s Shivers from the number one position, a spot Sheeran had claimed the previous four weeks.
Sheeran appealed to his fans on Instagram October 14 to support Cold Heart, saying, “@eltonjohn is so close to knocking me off the #1 spot in the U.K. It will be his first number one in almost twenty years and I really want it to happen.”
“Please go buy/stream/download Cold Heart with @dualipa now, 15 weeks at #1 was more than I ever expected anyway, love you all. Who doesn’t wanna be knocked off by Elton anyway,” wrote Sheeran.
Tour Postponed As Sir Elton Recovers From Surgery
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Elton’s forthcoming album, The Lockdown Sessions is set for release on October 22, and includes collaborations with Nicki Minaj, Young Thug, Miley Cyrus, Gorillaz, Brandi Carlile, Stevie Nicks, Lil Nas X, Stevie Wonder and Eddie Vedder.
Elton had been expected to hit the road in October in support of his ongoing Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour. However, he announced on September 16 that the UK and Europe legs would be postponed until 2023. The postponement was attributed to residual pain suffered as a result of a fall.
“At the end of my summer break I fell awkwardly on a hard surface and have been in considerable pain and discomfort in my hip ever since,” Elton explained in an Instagram post. “Despite intensive physio and specialist treatment, the pain has continued to get worse and is leading to increasing difficulties moving.”
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“I have been advised to have an operation as soon as possible to get me back to full fitness and make sure there are no long-term complications. I will be undertaking a program of intensive physiotherapy that will ensure a full recovery and a return to full mobility without pain.”
The tour had already grossed over $358 million across 179 shows.
