Elvis’ record label earns over £25,000 from royalties during opening weekend of Baz Luhrmann’s biopic

Elvis’ music has seen a big revival following the opening weekend of the anticipated biopic film starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks. The film’s opening night was on Friday 24^th June and encouraged listeners around the world to stream Elvis’ top 10 tracks on Spotify earning a massive £25,287 for Elvis’ record label RCA. 

Ranking experts at PokCas have compared Spotify streaming numbers of Elvis’ top ten most popular songs on Spotify and have tracked the increase in listens over the opening weekend period. The money earned from each song was then calculated based on the Insider report that artists earn £0.0032 per stream on the platform.

In first place is Can’t Help Falling in Love which gained a massive 1,849,999 streams on Spotify over the opening weekend making it the largest earner for RCA earning an estimated £6,009.39 in just five days. This song is regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time by Rolling Stone, ranking #403 on the list of the 2012 edition.

In second place is Jailhouse Rock which gained an additional 1,164,778 streams on Spotify and made an estimated £3,812.90 over the opening weekend. Jailhouse Rock was recorded for a film of the same name and starred Elvis himself.

In third place is Suspicious Minds which has earned £3,526.87 in royalties over the opening weekend due to 1,085,725 additional streams on Spotify. The song, written and originally recorded by Mark James, is about a dysfunctional relationship with feelings of mistrust.

In fourth place is Burning Love which has earned an estimated £2,609.98 from the additional 605,186 Spotify streams over the weekend. Burning Love would take fifth place if ranking the number of total streams, however this song has had a greater increase in streams and has made more money than Hound Dog.

In fifth place is Hound Dog which gained 605,186 streams on Spotify with estimated earnings of £1,965.88. The song caused much controversy when performed by Elvis back in the 1950’s as his provocative hip-swinging dance moves disgusted the press and some of the viewers.

Ratings sourced from Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb and Metacritic for the film were also tracked to observe any changes. All data was collected from the days leading up to the release of the film to today, following the opening weekend, 22^nd – 27^th June. Interestingly, the rating scores awarded by Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, and Metacritic have fluctuated over the last five days. On the 22^nd June the IMDb rating for the film was at a respectable 8.1/10, this rating dropped to 7.7/10 the next day and today it has risen to 7.9/10. Similarly, the Metacritic score dropped from 65 to 62, and back up to 63 in the same time frame. The Rotten Tomatoes rating has fallen on a steady decline from 83% to 78%. All three sites rely on various verified critic reviews to provide an overall score, but they also allow the general public to leave reviews for a separate score. In fact, the Rotten Tomatoes audience score is currently at 94% which is far more generous than the certified equivalent.

A spokesperson from PokCas has commented saying: “It is no surprise that Can’t Help Falling in Love was the biggest earner as the song has consistently been Elvis’ most popular song. As more people flock to see this film, it will be interesting to observe how the streaming numbers continue to grow as Elvis’ music sees a massive revival.”

Earnings from Streaming Elvis’ Top 10 Songs Worldwide from Spotify

Critic Movie Review Stats