Released in 1956, “Heartbreak Hotel” was the first Elvis Presley song to sell more than one million copies. Its success helped establish Presley as a major star at a time when rock and roll was moving into the mainstream, despite strong criticism of his style.

Tommy Durden wrote the lyrics after reading a newspaper account of a man who died by suicide in a hotel, while Nashville writer Mae Boren Axton composed the music. Presley did not write the song, but received a songwriting credit for performing it; the three shared the royalties. Durden later joked that the hit had “paid the rent for more than 20 years”.