Elton John becomes the oldest artist in history to top the ARIA Singles Chart

Elton John has broken a huge record this week, becoming the oldest artist in history to top the ARIA Singles Chart.

‘Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)’, alongside Dua Lipa, topped the chart on Friday, after spending 12 consecutive weeks in the Top 10.

Just months away from turning 78 years old, John has now surpassed previous record holder Paul McCartney who hit #1 with ‘FourFiveSeconds’ alongside Rihanna and Kanye West in 2015 when he was 72.

In addition, ‘Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)’ is also John’s first ARIA #1 hit in over two decades, last topping the chart in 1997 with ‘Something About The Way You Look Tonight / Candle In The Wind’.

The track also marks Dua Lipa’s first ever ARIA #1, after receiving multiple entries in the top five since 2017’s ‘New Rules’.

‘Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)’ appears on John’s latest album The Lockdown Sessions, which debuted on the ARIA Albums Chart at #2 last week.

The track is also currently holding the top spot on the TMN Hot 100, where it has sat for the past six weeks.

The song has also seen Aussie electronic act PNAU surge into Spotify’s Top 100 Artists.

The group’s co-founder, Nick Littlemore, told TMN a combination of factors had seen ‘Cold Heart’ – a track featuring the amalgamated lyrics of four songs from the 1970s to the 1990s – go off globally, and it’s not just the Sir Elton John effect.

“I think it’s probably the combination,” he said. “Obviously Dua Lipa carries such a weight right now in the world, and it was just the right time for the right record. And it’s not an overdone record… It’s just ignited people in a nostalgic way, and I guess we’ve all had a lot of time to reflect over the past 18 months, and a song like this brings up all this nostalgia of our youth and of times long gone.”

Having the song act as a springboard for PNAU to reach millions of listeners is ‘surreal’, he said, noting the group is now being mentioned in the same breath as other world-leading artists.

“We feel incredibly grateful and it’s a privilege to work with Sir Elton and Bernie [Taupin], and any chance we get and to have Dua Lipa grace our record, it’s a dream come true,” he added.