Remember When Elvis Presley Scored His First No. 1 Hit?
Elvis Presley was best-known as the King of Rock 'n' Roll, but he had a strong country influence throughout his entire career. In fact, Presley's first No. 1 hit single was a country release, "I Forgot to Remember to Forget," which reached the top of Billboard's country chart on Feb. 25, 1956.
"I Forgot to Remember to Forget" was Presley's fifth and final single for the legendary Sun Records out of Memphis, and it was his first-ever introduction to country fans as a recording artist, though he launched his career early on as a performer on the national country radio show the Louisiana Hayride.
Charlie Feathers and Stan Kesler co-wrote the song, and Sam Phillips produced the track, which Sun released in August of 1955 with "Mystery Train" as its B-side.
"I Forgot to Remember to Forget" proved to be Presley's only genuine chart hit for the label where he launched his career, staying at No. 1 for two weeks and enjoying an overall chart run of 39 weeks. He left Sun Records and signed with RCA after that, beginning a run of hits that landed at No. 1 on both the country and mainstream pop charts that included "Heartbreak Hotel," "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You," "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog."
Presley would go on to enjoy a dual career across genres for most of the rest of his life, and after a dry period of years at country radio, he scored two additional No. 1 country hits at the very end of his life, reaching the top of Billboard's country chart with "Moody Blue" in 1976 and "Way Down" in 1977. Presley died in August of 1977 at the age of 43.