On this day in 1956, Elvis Presley first appeared in the charts with his first hit, “Heartbreak Hotel”

Originally written by high school teacher Mae Boren Axton and singer/songwriter Tommy Durden in 1955, the song was reportedly inspired by a newspaper report about a man who had destroyed all of his identity papers and jumped to his death from a hotel window, leaving a note that read “I walk a lonely street”.

The song was offered to popular singing duo the Wilburn Brothers who promptly declined, claiming they found the song “strange and almost morbid”. After obtaining a publishing deal with Nashville bass player Buddy Killen, Axton was able to arrange through Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, to present the song to Presley at the annual Country Music Disc Jockey Convention in Nashville.

Presley was said to be enamoured with the song, asking Axton to play it for him a further ten times so he could memorise the lyrics, and he soon agreed to a deal in which Axton agreed to give him a third of the royalties if he could make it a hit. Rumours had already begun swirling about Presley moving from Sun Records to RCA Victor to launch his career at a national level, and Presley used Heartbreak Hotel as his first big hit for the label. 

The song became one of Presley’s most renowned and soon after entering the charts, it shot to number one on both the Pop and the Country and Western charts, as well as number five on the R&B charts, making it only the second song to have appeared on all three lists. By April, Heartbreak Hotel earned Presley his first certified gold record and the best selling single of 1956.