The publication Music Vendor listed Elvis' Christmas Album on their singles charts for two weeks in December 1957 – January 1958, with a peak position of No.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Elvis' Christmas Album along with its reissues has shipped at least 17 million copies in the United States.
It is the first Presley title to attain Diamond certification by the RIAA, and is also the best-selling Christmas album of all time in the United States.
Coincidentally, A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra, released the previous month, was also divided into secular and traditional sides.
[13] Ironically, the controversy was fueled by Presley's performance of the song in a style mirroring the version by Clyde McPhatter's group, The Drifters, which had been a Top 10 hit on the R&B singles chart in 1954 and 1955.
Unlike Presley's recording, however, their version attracted virtually no adverse reaction, and certainly no reported opposition from Berlin.
Even rarer than the cover and record itself is a gold foil price tag-shaped "gift giving" sticker attached to the shrink wrap, reading "TO __________, FROM _____________, ELVIS SINGS", followed by a list of the tracks.
Original copies with the gold sticker intact on the shrink wrap have proven to be among the most valuable of Presley's albums.
This reissue replaced the four gospel tracks from the Peace in the Valley EP with the 1966 holiday single "If Every Day Was Like Christmas", along with the 1970 non-seasonal B-side "Mama Liked the Roses", issued as the flip to Elvis's top ten single "The Wonder of You" and originating from Presley's acclaimed 1969 Memphis sessions; neither track had been available on LP format previously.
The initial cover of this revised version echoed that of the 1958 reissue, except a more recent photograph with Elvis wearing a blue racing jacket with two white stripes on the left was used from the set of the 1967 movie Speedway.
Following Presley's unexpected death in August 1977, the Pickwick Christmas album reissue was advertised and sold on television by mail order to enormous sales, later certified by the RIAA as selling in excess of ten million copies.
In 1985, as part of the RCA Records Elvis 50th Anniversary series, the original 1957 version of Elvis' Christmas Album was reissued on green vinyl with a recreation of its original cover art, gatefold sleeve and picture booklet; the album was also available on CD and cassette.
By the second decade of the 21st Century, It's Christmas Time had become the second biggest-selling album in the Special Products series, earning a 4× Platinum certification on March 8, 2018.
Notes Credits from Keith Flynn and Ernst Jorgensen's examination of session tapes and RCA and AFM paperwork.
[22][23][24][25][26][27] The Jordanaires NOTE: Credits for "If Every Day Was Like Christmas" and "Mama Liked the Roses", both of which were included on the 1970 Camden re-release (and variations of that album), can be found on their respective pages.