Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to May's original story than Marks' song, which had not yet been written. It was reissued in 1951 with the song added. May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, adapted the story of Rudolph into a song. Gene Autry's recording of the song hit No. 1 on the "Billboard" pop singles chart the week of Christmas 1949. Autry's recording sold 2.5 million copies the first year, eventually selling a total of 25 million, and it remained the second best-selling record of all time until the 1980s. DC Comics, then known as National Periodical Publications, published a series of 13 annuals titled "Rudolph the
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV special) the years. Animator Corky Quakenbush has produced parodies of "Rudolph" for several American television shows: In the sci-fi/comedy series "The Orville", in the episode "About a Girl", characters watch "Rudolph" to make the character Bortus consider his plans to arrange gender reassignment surgery for his newborn daughter (Bortus's species, the Moclans, are a single-gender species who statistically produce only one female every seventy-five years, with females thus having no clear place in their society) by demonstrating how unconventional people can accomplish great things, although Bortus humorously misinterprets the film to suggest that Rudolph's father might have considered euthanizing his child