<P> The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) began to certify gold albums and singles in 1958, and Elvis Presley's first RIAA award, a gold single for "Hard Headed Woman", was certified on August 11, 1958 . In August 1992, he was awarded with 110 gold, platinum and multi-platinum albums and singles, the largest presentation of gold and platinum record awards in history . According to Presley's record label, RCA, he is the best selling artist of all time, with sales over 1 billion records worldwide in all formats (600 million in the United States alone). </P> <P> The number of hits Elvis Presley had in the US became a topic of discussion in several news articles when it was announced by Billboard magazine in April 2008 that Mariah Carey and Madonna had surpassed Elvis Presley in the number of "Number 1" and "Top Ten" hits, with 18 and 37 hits respectively . </P> <P> Both of these claims were disputed by music historian Joel Whitburn and Elvis Presley Enterprises . Whitburn lists Elvis as having 18 number 1 hits (placing him in a tie with Mariah Carey at that time) and 38 top ten hits (one more than Madonna at that time). Elvis Presley Enterprises claims Elvis had 40 top ten hits . The differences depend on whether a double - sided hit single is counted as one hit single, or two hit songs . </P> <P> Before the age of compact discs and digital music downloads, singles were released on vinyl 45 RPM records, with one song on each side (an A-side and a B - side or flip side). Both songs of many Elvis singles became hits and were listed on the charts . "Hound Dog / Don't Be Cruel" was a double sided hit single that topped the Billboard Sales chart for 11 weeks in 1956 . At the time, "Hound Dog" was listed as the number 1 A-side for the first five weeks, and "Don't Be Cruel" was listed as the number 1 A-side for the last six weeks . Now Billboard lists it as a single double sided hit . This article lists Elvis Presley's hits, both A-sides and B - sides, on the Billboard singles charts (Pop / Hot 100, Country, Easy Listening / Adult Contemporary, and Rhythm and Blues), as well as rival music publications, Cash Box and Record World . </P>

How many number one hits did elvis presley have