Pictures depicting Diana appearing to console a distraught John at Versace's funeral were featured prominently in news coverage throughout the world.

From the first couple of lines I wrote [which began "Goodbye England's Rose"], the rest sort of fell into place To cope with the grief, John wanted to pay a tribute to Diana.

[12] In his autobiography, Me, John says he had a phone call from Richard Branson who said that many of those writing in the book of condolence at St James's Palace were quoting the lyrics of "Candle in the Wind".

John contacted his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, asking him to revise the lyrics of their 1973 song "Candle in the Wind" to honour her.

[11] George Martin was contacted to help produce the song, and added a string quartet (Peter Manning, Keith Pascoe, Levine Andrade, and Andrew Shulman), and woodwind (Pippa Davies, flute and oboe) to help balance the recording.

[10] John publicly performed "Candle in the Wind 1997" only once, at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in Westminster Abbey on 6 September 1997.

[15] "Candle in the Wind 1997" became the fastest-selling single in the UK, selling 658,000 copies on its first day of release and over 1.5 million in its first week.

[6][8] Released on 23 September 1997,[19] "Candle in the Wind 1997" debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, with first week sales at 3.5 million copies.

[13] The single stayed at the top for the Hot 100 for 14 consecutive weeks (until 17 January 1998), a record for a male solo artist.

From then until "Candle in the Wind 1997", John did not record a number-one single by himself and only had two chart toppers altogether, collaborating with other artists.

[22][23] However, the song's unusual chart performance in Canada has also been explained as a structural factor, due to the relative lack of CD singles available for sale in Canadian stores.

[26] According to Musiikkituottajat, the Finnish music industry federation, "Candle in the Wind 1997" is the best-selling single of all time in Finland, with quintuple-platinum sales of over 54,000 copies to date.

In 1997 La Bouche covered "Candle in the Wind 1997" as a bonus track on their album A Moment of Love.