Rocket Man Elton John: The Hit That Peaked at No. 6
Rocket Man Elton John recorded in France in January 1972 peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
It never reached number one in the US or the UK, and it still became his signature song.
Bernie Taupin's lyric about an astronaut who treats space as a day job borrows from a Ray Bradbury story and a folk song.
Add a William Shatner spoken-word version, a Kate Bush cover and a 1998 performance at a Space Shuttle launch site, and the song has lived several lives.
This page follows all of them, with every chart number credited to its source.
Browse the rest of the decade at Music of the 70s.
Elton John performing in Hamburg, Germany, March 1972, the month the single came out in the US.
Image credit: Photo by Heinrich Klaffs, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Rocket Man Elton John Began as a Stanza Repeated for Two Hours
Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics and Elton John wrote the music.
Taupin wrote the first stanza while driving to his parents' home.
He kept repeating it to himself for two hours.
He later said the hit made that effort worthwhile.
One account, from Elizabeth Rosenthal's book His Song, says the spark was either a shooting star or a distant plane.
The same account says Taupin liked the idea that astronauts had become everyday workers, and that idea shapes the opening lines.
The first song written during the Honky Château sessions, according to Elton John's own site.
| Detail | Fact |
|---|---|
| Full title | Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time) |
| Music | Elton John |
| Lyrics | Bernie Taupin |
| Producer | Gus Dudgeon |
| Recorded | 16 January 1972, Château d'Hérouville, France |
| Album | Honky Château (lead single) |
| US release | 31 March 1972, Uni Records |
| UK label | DJM Records |
Source: Wikipedia, "Rocket Man (song)," checked October 16, 2026.
A Bradbury Story, a Folk Song and a Bowie Comparison
Three older works come up in the song's history.
- Ray Bradbury's short story "The Rocket Man" from The Illustrated Man, about an astronaut who is away from his family for months.
- "Rocket Man" by Tom Rapp of Pearls Before Swine, a 1970 song of the same title that Taupin acknowledged borrowing from.
- David Bowie's "Space Oddity" from 1969, which Rocket Man echoes even though Taupin denied it was an inspiration.
Gus Dudgeon produced both Rocket Man and Space Oddity.
This site's own song data tags Rocket Man as nostalgic with a reflective vibe, and the Mood Song Matcher sorts it the same way.
It suits a song about missing home.
How Rocket Man Elton John Sounds: Piano, Slide Guitar and an ARP Synthesizer
Wikipedia calls it a highly arranged classic-rock ballad.
It was the first Elton John song to feature his band's signature backing-vocal combination.
Davey Johnstone, Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson all sang backing vocals behind him.
| Musician | Role |
|---|---|
| Elton John | Piano and lead vocals |
| Davey Johnstone | Electric slide and acoustic guitars, backing vocals |
| Dee Murray | Bass, backing vocals |
| Nigel Olsson | Drums, backing vocals |
| David Hentschel | ARP synthesizer (also the recording engineer) |
Source: Wikipedia personnel list for the song, checked October 16, 2026.
Piano First, Then the Slide Guitar
The piano carries the verses.
Johnstone's slide guitar glides in around it, and the synthesizer supplies the sweep that sounds like distance.
None of it crowds the vocal.
You can hear the whole arrangement on Rocket Man on Listen Now.
The Video Came 45 Years Later
The official video premiered in May 2017 at the Cannes Film Festival.
Majid Adin and Stephen McNally won the animation category of Elton John: The Cut with it.
It follows a refugee's story and draws parallels with the lyrics.
Rocket Man Elton John Peaked at No. 6 in the US and No. 2 in the UK
Rocket Man entered the UK chart on 22 April 1972 and peaked at No. 2.
In the US it peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Wikipedia gives no chart-week counts for either run.
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | No. 2 |
| Spain | No. 3 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | No. 6 |
| Ireland | No. 6 |
| Italy | No. 7 |
| Canada | No. 8 |
| US Cash Box | No. 11 |
| New Zealand | No. 11 |
| Australia | No. 13 |
| West Germany | No. 18 |
Source: Wikipedia, "Rocket Man (song)," Charts section, checked October 16, 2026.
Where It Finished the Year
This site's 1972 Year-End Hot 100 lists Rocket Man at No. 40.
The year-end list ranks a full year of chart performance, so it says nothing about the weekly peak.
Rocket Man is not among the number ones in this site's weekly Hot 100 data.
The Random 70s Song Generator will pull neighbors from the same year if you want a comparison.
| Rank | Song | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 38 | Starting All Over Again | Mel and Tim |
| 39 | Day After Day | Badfinger |
| 40 | Rocket Man | Elton John |
| 41 | Rockin' Robin | Michael Jackson |
| 42 | Beautiful Sunday | Daniel Boone |
Certified Five Times Platinum in the US
The RIAA certifies it five times platinum, for five million units.
The BPI certifies it four times platinum in the UK.
New Zealand certifies it nine times platinum.
Those certifications are Wikipedia's figures, not this site's.
Shatner, Kate Bush and Cold Heart: How Rocket Man Kept Coming Back
Three later versions changed how people hear the song.
- William Shatner delivered a spoken-word version at the 5th Saturn Awards, aired in January 1978 and introduced by Taupin. Animaniacs, Family Guy, Futurama and The Simpsons have all parodied it.
- Kate Bush recorded it in 1991 for the tribute album Two Rooms. It reached No. 12 in the UK and No. 2 in Australia, and readers of The Observer named it the greatest cover in 2007.
- Cold Heart, the 2021 song by Elton John, Pnau and Dua Lipa, samples the Rocket Man chorus. It topped the charts in the UK, Australia and New Zealand and reached No. 7 on the Hot 100.
Played at a Space Shuttle Launch Site in 1998
John played Rocket Man at the launch site of Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998.
In 2016 he played a piano medley of Rocket Man and Space Oddity as a tribute to Bowie.
Spotify counted its one-billionth stream on 6 January 2024.
A Space Shuttle Discovery launch, as photographed by NASA.
Image credit: NASA, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Rolling Stone Has Moved It Around
| List year | Rank |
|---|---|
| 2004 | No. 242 |
| 2010 | No. 245 |
| 2021 | No. 149 |
Source: Wikipedia, "Rocket Man (song)," Legacy section, checked October 16, 2026.
Not the 2019 Film: Finding the 1972 Rocket Man
Searching for rocket man turns up more than the song.
The 2019 biopic Rocketman, a 1997 comedy called RocketMan and the 1972 single all share the name.
This page covers only the single.
It is not the only 70s song that shares its title with a film: Bohemian Rhapsody is another, a 1975 single whose name a 2018 biopic reused.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who wrote Rocket Man by Elton John?
Elton John wrote the music for Rocket Man and Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics.
Gus Dudgeon produced the recording, made on 16 January 1972 at Château d'Hérouville in France.
It was the lead single from the album Honky Château, released in the US on 31 March 1972.
What is Rocket Man by Elton John about?
Rocket Man is about an astronaut who treats space travel as an everyday job and misses home.
It draws on Ray Bradbury's short story "The Rocket Man," about an astronaut away from his family for months.
Bernie Taupin also acknowledged borrowing from Tom Rapp's 1970 song of the same title.
Did Rocket Man reach number one?
Rocket Man did not reach number one in the US or the UK.
According to Wikipedia, it peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart.
This site's 1972 Year-End Hot 100 lists it at No. 40.
Who played on Rocket Man?
Elton John played piano and sang lead on Rocket Man.
Davey Johnstone played electric slide and acoustic guitars, Dee Murray played bass, Nigel Olsson played drums, and David Hentschel added ARP synthesizer.
Johnstone, Murray and Olsson also sang backing vocals.
Who has covered Rocket Man?
William Shatner performed a spoken-word version at the 5th Saturn Awards, aired in January 1978 and introduced by Bernie Taupin.
Kate Bush recorded it in 1991 for the tribute album Two Rooms, reaching No. 12 in the UK and No. 2 in Australia.
The 2021 hit Cold Heart by Elton John, Pnau and Dua Lipa samples the chorus.
Is the movie Rocketman the same as the song Rocket Man?
The 2019 film Rocketman is a biographical musical drama about Elton John, not the 1972 song.
Dexter Fletcher directed it and Taron Egerton plays John.
The song Rocket Man is one of the tracks the film is built around, but this page covers only the 1972 single.
Sources
- Rocket Man (song), Wikipedia, for release dates, personnel, chart peaks, certifications and covers.
- 'Rocket Man': The Lifetime of a Song, eltonjohn.com, for the Honky Château sessions.
- Rocketman (film), Wikipedia, for the 2019 biopic.
Year-end ranks come from this site's own Billboard Year-End Hot 100 data.
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