Elton John has been recording music since 1965, when his band Bluesology released their first track called "Come Back Baby." It was pressed as a 7" single (45 rpm) in the UK. A few years later he joined forces with Bernie Taupin, and has been recording and releasing albums and singles ever since. Singles are of particular interest to collectors because they're pressed in limited quanitites and are only available for a few months.

There are three popular formats of singles:

• 7-inch (or 45 rpm) vinyl discs can be played on a turntable or in a jukebox. They typically have one song on each side, called the "A" side and the "B" side. Often the b-side song would be a bonus track not included on the album. To this day, there are still Elton John b-side songs that have never been included on any album, or officially released on CD format. A few 7-inch singles were pressed at 33 rpm so that it could fit three to four songs. These singles were often called "EP" or extended-play singles. Early promotional pressings of singles occasionally put a stereo version of the song on one side, and a mono mix on the other.
• 12-inch vinyl singles can also be played on a turntable, and are the same size as vinyl albums. They are sometimes pressed at 33 rpm or 45 rpm, and were generally used to include extended versions of songs, or dance remixes.
• CD singles are most commonly pressed as 5-inch discs, but there are some that were made as 3-inch mini discs. CD singles typically include 2 to 6 songs. They can also include extra media like video tracks or interactive PC applications.

All singles fall into two basic categories: stock and promotional. Stock singles were made for resale to the public, and were mass-produced in multiple batches depending on how popular the song was. Promotional (or 'promo') singles were made in very limited quantities and were generally sent to radio station DJs or music industry executives. Their limited pressing makes them quite attractive to collectors.

Listed in this section are known singles that were pressed in various countries across the world. In most cases, the songs would be the same everywhere (Elton did not record his hits in different languages). Nearly all countries would print the sleeve and label with text in the national language. And many countries would also take liberties in printing unique sleeve designs for the singles. If a picture sleeve exists for a single, it's noted here, and you can click the icon to display the sleeve.

The links below indicate the number of known singles pressed in that format for that country. I'm certain there are several more that haven't been cataloged yet, but this page will be updated as more information comes through.