# What was the last song to sell 30,000,000 copies?

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/what-was-the-last-song-to-sell-30000000-copies/
- Published: 2026-10-26T15:45:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-07T07:38:18+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/what-was-the-last-song-to-sell-30000000-copies/
- Topics: Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- Elton John’s Diana tribute sold more than 33 million copies worldwide.
- It was released a week after his performance at her funeral.
- The single’s proceeds and royalties supported Diana’s memorial fund.

## Summary

Elton John’s reworked “Candle in the Wind” became the last song to sell more than 30 million copies, with worldwide sales eventually exceeding 33 million. Released in 1997 as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, it became a record-breaking hit and a keepsake for people marking a moment of collective mourning.

John had first written the song with Bernie Taupin in 1973 in tribute to Marilyn Monroe. After Diana died, Taupin rewrote the lyrics, and John performed the new version at her funeral at Westminster Abbey before recording it with producer George Martin. The single sold more than 1.5 million copies in its first week in the UK, spent five weeks at number one there and 14 weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100; its proceeds and royalties went to the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.