CSPC: Michael Jackson Popularity Analysis
After two weeks of teasing with related, making of-like articles, the wait is finally over. It’s time to shine our light on the King of Pop. Iconic, massive, legendary, cult, an anthem of a generation, we quickly run out of words while speaking of Michael Jackson.
Maybe the most amazing element is that he achieved this status with a mere six albums from the time he turning 18 in 1976 to his death in 2009. Obviously, it helps when those albums include blockbusters like Thriller, Bad and Dangerous.
This limited discography in volume raises some questions though. As popular as Michael Jackson has been it is hard to imagine him challenging artists like Madonna or Mariah Carey, who were massive too but issued far more albums and mostly during a more favorable time for record sales.
Additionally, artists with well-known elements like video clips, dance moves, widely covered / sampled and highly influential are often seen as bigger sellers than they really are. Since Michael Jackson assembles these elements better than anyone we may wonder even more how much he truly sold.
A lot of myths are well alive around him, from the 750 million record sales to the 100 million copies sold of Thriller. Those claims are clearly fake though, on par with the billion sales of the Beatles or Elvis Presley. Speaking of myths, most of them are related to Thriller. Is it so big that it eclipses everything else and asks the question, were the likes of Off The Wall and Bad less successful than often believed?
As usual, I’ll be using the Commensurate Sales to Popularity Concept in order to relevantly gauge his results. This concept will not only bring you sales information for all Michael Jackson‘s albums, physical and download singles, as well as audio and video streaming, but it will also determine their true popularity. If you are not yet familiar with the CSPC method, the next page explains it with a short video. I fully recommend watching the video before getting into the sales figures. Of course, if you are a regular visitor feel free to skip the video and get into the figures.
Let’s go!
MJ has now 5 youtoube-videos with over 800 Mio. views:
Billie Jean 1300
They don`t care about us 979
Beat It 906
Thriller 882
Smooth Criminal 800
kx
@kxthrills
Michael Jackson having 5 videos over 800 MILLION views
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fn-vsx8WAAE_Ik_?format=jpg&name=small
Chicago reached 100 Mio. on Spotify. Also recently Hold my hand and You are not alone.
On youtoube Beat it recently reached 900 Mio. views, Rock with you 300 Mio. and Who is it 100 Mio. views.
Thriller sold 236,000 albums (physical + digital) in 2022, only USA
chart data
@chartdata
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11 Std.
Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ now ranks among the top 10 best selling albums of the year in US pure sales, 40 years after release.
On Spotify “Chicago” is currently MJ’s 3rd biggest track on a daily basis, with close to 1/2 million plays a day. Why the sudden interest?
It went viral on TikTok like quite a few of his songs!
At the time of writing, ‘Thriller’ has now topped 120 million EAS.
It’s astounding to think that one album has been more successful that the entire career output (so far) of some pretty big international acts. Dire Straits, Coldplay, RHCP, Simon and Garfunkel, Adele, Drake and Rihanna to name a few…
Apart from Simon and Garfunkel, you’re right according to this system
Yes, sorry, I meant to say ‘The Doors’. Thank you for the correction!
Michael Jackson was part of Thriller album, there was dozens of workers and inventors, everyone’s goal was maximum commercialism or sales. That’s why its rating is not at the top. Not so creative. Call product.
I’m not necessarily saying than I’m a fan of either Jackson or ‘Thriller’. Just commenting on the enormous success it has achieved regardless of how many people were involved in it’s creation.
How is it any less creative, than say Blood on the Tracks, OK Computer, Nevermind, Sticky Fingers etc
You just sound like a bitter snob, finding fault and putting something down, just because it’s not to your taste.
Read everyone’s reviews from the critics. They say it better. Are Agatha Christie books better than, let’s say Herman Hesse, John Steinbeck or L-F Celine? I just threw a comment out of context. It’s not dangerous.
No, it’s bollocks. It’s not everyone’s reviews, it’s a certain subset of societys reviews. Do you really think hip hop magazines, bang on about or even give a fuck about, the merits or validity of Blonde On Blonde or Pet Sounds. On top of that, the majority of the world couldn’t give a toss what critics say, let alone use them as a barometer of what music they enjoy or want to buy. I don’t know what you deem as creative but for me, Thriller is on many levels. It’s not only the most popular album of all time and… Read more »
What’s your point? That’s like 99% of music out there!
There is an interesting comment in Sandra Bullock’s film The Lost City. She plays a romance novelist who’s extremely popular but would prefer to write serious work. The cover model says, “How can I be embarrassed by something that brings so much joy to so many people?”
If you like something, enjoy it. But don’t try to negate someone else’s happiness.
Same with your quote about Agatha Christie. Hundreds of millions of people bought her books. It obviously brought them joy. Why insult their taste?
50 cent snoop dogg
Hi MJD, do you have any estimate of how many albums Michael sold since his passing in 2009? According to Soundscan he sold 16.1 million albums in the US alone as of 2019, is it possible to make a worldwide figure?
some of y’all need to shut up
michael had 6 studio albums and the beatles 13
the beatles did it in 7 years and mj in 22 years
the thing is that both found their own way into their success and there’s no excuse to invalidate the other, just SHUT UPPPPP
Not to mention that Michael has actually 10 studio albums. Anyway, they’re both icons
He had 6 albums as an adult. If we don’t add
The other four albums ,they won’t affect that
Much.
mj I a solo artist being compared to a band , I think that says enough
Just out of curiosity, there probably are good reasons, but is History the only album that is counted twice? Or are any of the other (double) albums also treated this way?
I hope this works so they could answer you soon @MJD @Al @Martin
Why number of sales are changing?
Do they update daily?
Streams are updated daily. The EAS from streams cause movement on their sales.
Alas, the question is probably too dumb/difficult or easy for me to search for
Well disc one of history is a compilation and disc two is a studio album and disc on is certified platinum in the us but disc two is certified 8 times platinum in the us so the compilation and studio album are considered like two separate things even though they are put together.
No, it’s the only double studio album in his catalogue. HIStory is actually not counted twice. The US RIAA is the only certification body in the world that counts double albums as 2. HIStory was released in 1995 and the RIAA established this rule in September of 1996, according to Billboard magazine. But for some reason, HIStory’s sales of had reached 6x platinum bt that point, but the figure wasn’t doubled to 12x platinum as it shouldve been (like Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ & The Beatles ‘The Beatles’ doubled their certifications for these double disc releases following the rule change).… Read more »
Hi Aska, you’ve got your dates wrong about when multi counting was introduced, the multi counting rule came into place in June 1992, not 1996. Due to this, pretty much nothing you said above is correct. 1992 : Multi-box sets are redefined as two or more CDs (or the equivalent in LPs or cassettes) with a minimum running time of 120 minutes. The criteria are also changed so that each unit within a set is counted separately. The criteria for a Gold® multi-box set now require sales of 500,000 units; Platinum®, one million units; and Multi-Platinum™, two million units. 1997: An… Read more »
Is this why RIAA created certification system? Who is the best at manipulating system. The question is probably that the record company is trying to maximize revenues. Box-sets generate big money. Product is ready, it is inserted into the case and max price. Several different versions.
The Beatles have a 16 box sets and Dylan 23 box sets. First box set was Dylan’s Biography 1985.
It was actually a question about the counting on this website. The 18m+ (ww) sales of the double album are counted as 18m+ for the studio album and 18m+ as a compilation, as it cannibalized on the earlier studio albums as well. I was wondering if this happened more often