How Many More Years Midnight", described by Phillips as "the most different record I ever heard", was probably recorded at a different session. Phillips had not yet set up Sun Records and regularly leased his recordings to the Chess label in Chicago. The record was issued as Chess 1479 on 15 September 1951, with "Moanin' at Midnight" as the A-side and "How Many More Years" as the B-side. "Moanin' at Midnight" entered the R&B chart on 10 November 1951, and was followed four weeks later by "How Many More Years", which became the more popular side and rose to no.4 on the chart. The
How Many Licks? remaining on the chart for 20 weeks. "How Many Licks?" also charted in several other countries. It peaked at number six on the Dutch Top 40 chart, and remained on the chart for 13 weeks. The single reached number seven on the Ultratop chart in the Flanders region of Belgium, also remaining on that chart for 13 weeks. It further peaked at number 58 on the German Singles Chart, remaining for eight editions. The song's music video, directed by Francis Lawrence, was shot in the Sylmar, Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Angeles on October 3 and 4, 2000, and premiered