September 2019 saw The Royal Mail issue a set of 12 stamps as a tribute to Elton being one of the most popular and enduring music artists of all time. The highest acknowledgement in the list, Elton became one of only 64 people to hold the honour. Elton was awarded the Companion of Honour in the 2021 New Year Honours list. In June 2019 President Emmanuel Macron presented Elton the Légion d’honneur, France’s highest award, for his lifetime contribution to the arts and the fight against HIV/AIDS. In 1992, Elton established the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which today is one of the leading non-profit HIV/AIDS organizations and has raised over $515 million to date in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. In February 2022, he topped the inaugural Pollstar Artist Power Index, a weekly rank of the world’s most popular artists based on streaming, touring, airplay, and social media metrics. Most recently, Elton was awarded the 2021 iHeartRadio “Golden Icon” Award in recognition of his incredible influence on music and pop culture. Among the many awards and honors bestowed upon him are six GRAMMYs, including a GRAMMY Legend award, a Tony and two Oscars, a Best British Male Artist BRIT Award, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Kennedy Center Honor, Legend of Live Award, 13 Ivor Novello Awards between 19 and a knighthood from HM Queen Elizabeth II for “services to music and charitable services”. Its soundtrack was also nominated for a GRAMMY Award. It has won an Oscar, two Golden Globe Awards and a Critics’ Choice Award and garnered BAFTA nominations. An epic fantasy musical motion picture of Elton’s life, 'Rocketman' has been a commercial and critical hit, taking close to $200m at the box office. 2019 also saw the release of ‘Rocketman’ and global bestselling autobiography, ‘ME’. To date, Elton has delivered more than 4,000 performances in more than 80 countries since launching his first tour in 1970. In 2019 it was named Billboard's Top Rock Tour and Pollstar’s Major Tour Of The Year. Encompassing 5 continents, and over 350 dates, this 5-year-long tour started in September 2018 and marks his retirement from touring after more than 50 years on the road.
Elton announced the ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour at New York’s Gotham Hall in January 2018. In America, he holds the record for longest span between Billboard top 40 hits at 50 years. Its success meant that Elton became the first ever solo artist to score a UK Top 10 hit single in 6 consecutive decades. It’s lead single “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix) with Dua Lipa” became a bona fide global hit, reaching number 1 in the UK and Australian singles charts. ‘The Lockdown Sessions’, an album of collaborations recorded during the COVID-19 Pandemic, was released in October 2021 and went straight to number 1 in the UK album Charts, becoming Elton’s 8th UK number 1 album in the process.
At present, he has logged 70 Billboard Hot 100 entries, including nine No. August 2018 saw Elton named as the most successful male solo artist in Billboard Hot 100 chart history. This release celebrated 50 years of his songwriting partnership with Bernie Taupin. Released in 2017 ‘Diamonds’ the Ultimate Greatest Hits album, became Elton’s 40th UK Top 40 album and has spent over 200 consecutive weeks in the top 75 of the UK album charts, over 110 of these in the top 20. He holds the record for the biggest-selling single of all time, “Candle in the Wind 1997”, which sold over 33 million copies. He has sold more than 300 million records worldwide. In the UK and US charts alone he has 1 diamond, 32 platinum or multi-platinum, and 21 gold albums as well as over 70 Top 40 hits. Elton is one of the top-selling solo artists of all time. Elton’s career achievements to date are unsurpassed in their breadth and longevity.