Elton John has had hit songs for more than 50 years, but he has never had a music video with one billion views on YouTube. Until now.
The official video for “Sacrifice”, his slow love song from 1989, has passed one billion views. It is the first Elton John video to join YouTube’s Billion Views Club.
A song that took its time
Elton wrote “Sacrifice” with his longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. It was the second single from his 1989 album Sleeping With the Past.
At first, the song did not do very well. Then, in 1990, it came out again as a double A-side with “Healing Hands”. This time it went all the way to No. 1 in the UK and stayed there for five weeks. In the United States it reached No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100.
So a song that almost slipped past people became one of his best known ballads.
The video behind the billion
The video was directed by Alek Keshishian, who later made the Madonna film Truth or Dare. It tells the story of a couple whose relationship is falling apart. The model Yasmeen Ghauri and the singer Chris Isaak play the couple.
It is a sad story, and fans have kept coming back to watch it for decades.
A new life with Dua Lipa
Many younger fans found the song in 2021, when Elton and Dua Lipa released “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)”. The track mixed parts of “Sacrifice” with three other Elton songs: “Rocket Man”, “Kiss the Bride” and “Where’s the Shoorah?”.
“Cold Heart” was a big hit, and it brought the old melody of “Sacrifice” to people who had never heard the original.
Our take
One billion views is a big number for any artist. For a song from 1989, made long before YouTube existed, it is even more impressive.
It shows that a good song does not get old. Fans who heard it on the radio in 1990 still play it, and fans of Dua Lipa find it through “Cold Heart”. Elton waited a long time for this one, and he picked a very good song to do it with.
What is your favourite Elton John song? Tell us in the comments.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Elton John at Glastonbury 2023 by Raph_PH (CC BY 2.0); Elton John at the Gershwin Prize concert in Washington, 2024, by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress (CC0); Elton John at the Tribeca Film Festival 2011 by David Shankbone (CC BY 3.0); Elton John in the Netherlands in 1971 by Bert Verhoeff for Anefo (CC0).
