What was Elvis Presley first number 1 hit on the US Billboard pop charts?

Elvis Presley’s first number-one hit on the US Billboard pop charts was “Heartbreak Hotel.” Released by RCA Victor in January 1956, it became the young singer’s breakthrough hit after his move from Sun Records to the larger national label.

The song was written by Mae Boren Axton, Tommy Durden, and Elvis Presley’s publisher, although Presley did not write the lyrics. Its bleak story was reportedly inspired by a newspaper account of a lonely man who died by suicide and left a note saying he walked a lonely street. The recording’s echo-heavy sound and Elvis’s dramatic vocal made it unusually dark for a major pop hit of the period.

“Heartbreak Hotel” reached number one on the Billboard Top 100, the predecessor to today’s unified Hot 100, and remained there for seven weeks. It also topped Billboard’s country chart and became Presley’s first million-selling single. A common mix-up is “Don’t Be Cruel” or “Hound Dog,” both major number-one hits later in 1956; “Heartbreak Hotel” came first.