The King of Rock’n’roll, Elvis Presley had 139 top 40 UK hits between 1956 and 2007. We’ve put together the ultimate Elvis Presley playlist of all time. The songs simply never age and undoubtedly stand the test of time, as you have told us. Every new decade brings a new generation of music lovers to the church of Elvis, as we saw this year with the huge success of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis film.

So we've put together the ultimate Elvis Presley playlist just for you! This compilation spans his entire career, from his early Sun records to his final Madison Square Garden performance in 1977. So, sit back and enjoy some of the greatest music ever recorded – courtesy of The King himself!

Suspicious Minds

This 1968 recording gave Elvis his first number-one after the brilliant ’68 Comeback Special. Elvis was back on top and the sky was the limit. Suspicious Minds proved to be his last number 1 in the United States and reached the number 2 position in the UK. It was penned by Mark James who also provided Elvis with another late-career classic, Always on My Mind.

Commonly this is in the top 3 of most people’s favourite Elvis songs, however, it very nearly didn’t happen due to Elvis’ management demanding 50% of the publishing rights to the song. A stone-cold classic to get the Elvis Presley Playlist rocking.

Can’t Help Falling in Love

From his early days in Memphis, Tennessee, to his reign as one of the biggest stars in show business, Elvis left an indelible mark on popular culture. Can’t Help Falling in Love, is one of those songs that seems to be in continuous play around the globe. A favourite at weddings sees it ranked at the number 1 spot on My Wedding Songs, ahead of classics like Ed Sheeran’s Perfect and John Legend’s All of Me.

The song first made its debut in the 1961 film, Blue Hawaii it peaked at number 1 in the UK and number 2 in the US. It was a mainstay of Elvis Presley’s playlist for his live concerts and he chose it to close the TV Special, Aloha Live from Hawaii via Satellite production in 1973 which reached over 1 billion people worldwide in over 42 countries back in ‘73.

It also has the sad accolade of being the very last song he performed live before he passed away on August 16, 1977. So it simply had to appear on the Ultimate Elvis Presley Playlist.

Fun fact there are four UK football clubs that have this as their signature tune, Sunderland, Swindon, Hull and Huddersfield FC.

Burning Love

This 1972 hit for Presley was a cover of the Arthur Alexander soul hit from the same year. Arthur Alexander was a hugely respected soul sensation;  among his fans were Elvis, the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, all covering at least one of his songs in their early days.

The song is his number 2 in the US, being kept off the number 1 spot by Chuck Berry’s only ever number 1 song, My Ding A Ling. In the UK it sold over 600,000 singles and reached the number 7 spot.

It was another favourite of Elvis’ Vegas live set allowing him to showcase his trademark karate moves as part of the choreography.

Again, the song was nearly shelved as Elvis had favoured the slower sadder song ‘Separate Ways’ reflecting his own personal circumstance. However, luckily for the world and Elvis, Burning Love was recorded and proved to be a massive crowd-pleaser.

King Creole

The title of Elvis’ third film and the lead song was written by Rock’n’roll royalty, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. King Creole had all the swagger a Rock’n’roll single needed back in 1958. Both the film and the single were among the best Elvis had produced to date, the song reached number 2 in the UK and number 1 in the US.

The song harks back to Elvis's early days at Sun Records when Elvis recorded raw Rock’n’roll under the guidance of Sam Phillips and is always one of the first on any Elvis Presley Playlist ever compiled.

Fun fact the film was directed by highly respected director Michael Curtiz, who had directed Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy and White Christmas.

Are You Lonesome Tonight?

One of Elvis's first songs he recorded after being released from the US Army duty in Germany.

The song was a change of pace for the Hillbilly hellcat, had the Army changed him? This was what every teenager wanted to know. The song was a cover of a 1926 Handman and Turk release on Harmony record company and had been previously recorded by the great Al Jolson. The record company, RCA was unsure and delayed its release due to the concern that it wasn’t the rock ‘n’ roll the teenagers were screaming out for.

It didn’t matter, the teenagers had been starved of Elvis for so long he could have sung the phonebook and they would have bought it in their droves. Strangely Elvis’ version of Are you Lonesome Tonight showed a more mature performance and a greater range than anything that had gone before. Elvis was back with a vengeance and nothing could stop him.

The song topped the UK and US charts and managed to sell 2 million copies in its first 3 months.

In 1982 Are You Lonesome Tonight was re-released in the UK featuring an outtake version of Elvis laughing and kidding around whilst singing this serious brooding song. A wonderfully uplifting rendition and a peek at the other side of Elvis.

Fun fact, the song was chosen as it was Colonel Tom Parker’s wife’s favourite song.

In The Ghetto

This is Elvis at his most solemn. In The Ghetto was to add to the emotional brew that Elvis would cook up in his Vegas live performances.

The ballad tells the story of an ill-fated boy in Chicago destined for a life of despair and misery. The atmospheric orchestral arrangement of the song set it apart from its contemporaries. In the Ghetto was part of the same recording sessions that produced Suspicious Minds and Burning Love. After the impetus of the ’68 Comeback Special, Elvis was once again making all the right choices.

In the Ghetto hit the UK number 2 spot and the US number 3 spot. It seemed Elvis was ready to take the 1970s by storm with a string of big hits under his wing and a new enthusiasm.

Fun fact – the song was written by country artist Mac Davis who also created Don’t Cry Daddy, A Little Less Conversations and Memories. Davis had originally entitled the song The Vicious Circle. The song has been covered by many most notably chosen by brilliant singer-songwriter Nick Cave as his debut single.

If I Can Dream

This anthem was recorded just months after the assassination of Civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King Jnr. It featured at the end of the ’68 Comeback Special much to Colonel Tom Parker’s disdain as he thought Elvis should steer clear of politics.

This classic allows Elvis to fully let go of his magnificent voice. Allowing him to utilise the bass, tenor and baritone aspects of his voice and delivering a truly chilling performance. The songs stand alongside such classics as Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come and Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ In The Wind as a testament to the ‘60s. It is also unique as it was a political statement, something frowned upon by the Colonel. A must for every Elvis Presley playlist.

Upon recording this song for the first time Elvis proclaimed that he was never going to sing a song or act in a film he didn’t believe in. This was an obvious reference to films like Blue Hawaii (1961), GI Blues (1960)and Viva Las Vegas (1964) that had become formulaic and soulless.

Fun Fact – Alongside American Trilogy, If I Can Dream is Priscilla Presley’s two favourite Elvis songs.

Always On My Mind

Coming from the same songwriting stable as Suspicious Minds, this song was initially recorded by the great Brenda Lee. However, Elvis was listening out for great songs that he could showcase in his live shows and Always on My Mind fell into that category. Brenda Lee did not have a hit with it and in 1972 Elvis was to take it to the top of the charts reaching number 16 in the US and number 9 in the UK.

The song was the flipside to Elvis’ Separate Ways and was recorded just weeks after his split from Priscilla. One of the most heartbreakingly beautiful 45s ever released.

In 1988, the Pet Shop Boys gave this Elvis classic a synth-pop makeover and took it to the top of the UK charts for 4 weeks. This rendition was also voted the top cover version of all time in a 2014 BBC Music poll.

Heartbreak Hotel

The first release on Elvis’ new RCA label showed that there was still plenty of Rock’n’roll left in the Memphis Flash even after his departure from Sun records. Released in 1956 Heartbreak Hotel was to feature heavily throughout his career and was finally performed on stage in Maryland, Baltimore in 1977 in one of his final live performances.

Released in 1956 the NME was somewhat lukewarm about the single reporting, "If you appreciate good singing, I don't suppose you'll manage to hear this disc all through.”

Sam Phillips referred to the song as a ‘Morbid mess.’

Regardless the song took the world by storm. Number 1 in the Us and Number 2 in the UK. It inspired generations of singers to take up rock and roll.

Paul McCartney was obsessed with the song and now owns the bass played on the original recording back in 1955.

It's an amazing song. Lyrically, for starters, it was a real shock. You must remember that, in the mid-'50s, pop lyrics were mostly fodder.

It was "St Therese of The Roses" and "How Much Is That Doggie in The Window?" Then you had Elvis singing, "Where broken-hearted lovers to cry away their gloom". I remember thinking how odd it was to hear the word "dwell" in a song.

It wasn't the kind of detail you'd expect. It was those little touches that made it different from anything I'd heard before”.

Jailhouse Rock

The last in our selection and we could have easily selected another 50 songs that is how great the Elvis legacy truly is. The last but by no means least is of course Jailhouse Rock.

The song from Elvis’ second film with the same name, is again another turning point in popular music history. When people Like Lennon and McCartney say there was nothing before Elvis, they truly mean there was nothing that even compared with Elvis.

When he came along the world stopped for practically every teenager in the land. Nothing was to be the same again before or since. The top song on our Elvis Presley Playlist.

Jailhouse Rock was another Leiber and Stoller hit. Elvis realised that the pair were the hit factory he needed to justify his appearance in the films that the Colonel had signed him up for.  Jailhouse Rock was to hit the number 1 spot in both the UK and the US.

Fact – just weeks after the film was complete, Elvis’ leading lady, Judy Tyler was tragically killed in a road accident. Consequently, Elvis refused to watch the film in full as he found it too emotional.

…And That’s All She Wrote

Who knew that the young Elvis Aron Presley born on January 8, 1935, to Vernon and Gladys would become the biggest single name in rock and roll history? Presley was born into a dirt-poor farming community and Presley died surrounded by wealth beyond his wildest dreams in just 42 years.

Imagine for a moment what more he could have given us if he was still with us. Another 40 years of Elvis we can but dream!

Let us know your favourite Elvis song in the comments section below. Did we manage to include it in our Ultimate Elvis Presley Playlist?