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.听
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鈥檚 first number one hit in the UK since 2005, when he collaborated with 2Pac on聽 Ghetto Gospel.听
The single has amassed 64,000 chart sales, driven in large part to 5.9 million streams.听
Elton, recovering from a hip-replacement surgery, celebrated the historic achievement on social media.
“We did it 鈥� UK NUMBER 1!! I cannot begin to聽 tell you how much this means to me. Thank you Dua, PNAU and to everyone聽 who streamed, downloaded, and listened to Cold Heart! You鈥檝e made me聽 feel infinitely better after my surgery and I can鈥檛 wait for you to hear the聽 whole of ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ when it comes out next week!”聽
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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聽 whom charted at least one top ten single in five different decades.听聽
A mashup of two of Elton鈥檚 most iconic hits, 1989’s Sacrifice and 1972’s聽 Rocket Man; Cold Heart is the first single to drop from Elton鈥檚 forthcoming聽 album of collaborations, The Lockdown Sessions.听聽
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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聽 鈥済reatest record he鈥檇 heard in ten years.鈥�
Since that time Elton has mentored聽 the group and in 2012 they collaborated on the album Good Morning to the聽 Night, which entered the UK Album Chart in the number one position. The critically acclaimed album used samples of some of Elton鈥檚 early 1970s聽 recordings to create new songs.听
Cold Heart toppled Ed Sheeran鈥檚 Shivers from the number one position, a spot Sheeran had claimed the previous four weeks.
Sheeran appealed to his聽 fans on Instagram October 14 to support Cold Heart, saying, 鈥淍eltonjohn is聽 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.鈥澛�
“Please go buy/stream/download Cold Heart with @dualipa now, 15 weeks聽 at #1 was more than I ever expected anyway, love you all. Who doesn鈥檛聽 wanna be knocked off by Elton anyway,鈥� wrote Sheeran.听
Tour Postponed As Sir Elton Recovers From Surgery
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Elton鈥檚 forthcoming album, The Lockdown Sessions is set for release on聽 October 22, and includes collaborations with Nicki Minaj, Young Thug, Miley聽 Cyrus, Gorillaz, Brandi Carlile, Stevie Nicks, Lil Nas X, Stevie Wonder and聽 Eddie Vedder.
Elton had been expected to hit the road in October in support of his聽 ongoing Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.听However, he announced on September 16 that the UK and Europe legs would be postponed until 2023. The聽 postponement was attributed to residual pain suffered as a result of a fall.听聽
鈥淎t the end of my summer break I fell awkwardly on a hard surface and have聽 been in considerable pain and discomfort in my hip ever since,鈥� Elton explained in an Instagram post. 鈥淒espite intensive physio and specialist聽 treatment, the pain has continued to get worse and is leading to increasing difficulties moving.鈥澛�
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鈥淚 have been advised to have an operation as soon as possible to get me聽 back to full fitness and make sure there are no long-term complications. I will聽 be undertaking a program of intensive physiotherapy that will ensure a full聽 recovery and a return to full mobility without pain.鈥澛�
The tour had already grossed over $358 million across 179 shows.听
