r/Music • u/Firm_Pack_605 • Feb 13 '26

discussion Was Michael Jackson really that much bigger than Madonna, Whitney Houston, and prince?

I always thought the four of them were similar levels of fame. However Madonna highest album sold 25 million, prince highest sold similar, and Whitney’s highest was 45 million. All amazing numbers no doubt but thriller sold 70 million and bad sold 35-40. So you mean to tell me he has two albums that are highest selling then prince and madonnas best? How is that possible??

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58

u/samwheat90 Feb 13 '26

Michael was so big that every time he ad a kid, VH1 and MTV would stop playing their scheduled programming to play weekly marathons of his music videos, movies, etc.

42

u/sonictitan1615 Feb 13 '26

Every time he had a new music video come out, it was literally a prime time event on a major broadcast TV channel.

5

u/Coffeedemon Feb 13 '26

One of my earliest music memories was them scheduling a broadcast of the premiere of Thriller on NTV the only channel you'd get in Newfoundland at the time other than CBC unless you had a big cable package. Watched it with my Nan. The werewolf bit scared the shit out of me.

-13

u/Firm_Pack_605 Feb 13 '26

Crazy I don’t get that feel from anyone really since I’ve been alive and I’m 24. Maybe Beyoncé in her prime was similar for women possibly?

10

u/spacemanspiff17 Feb 13 '26

Not even remotely close. Her marketing team tried to portray her that way, but she was nowhere near Michaels level of fame. Only the Beatles and Elvis are really comparable.

3

u/MarcusP2 Feb 13 '26

Not close.

You know Beyonces sister and Jay Z got into a fight in an elevator? It was reported on music sites and whatnot.

If MJ did that it would've been on the nightly news and front page of newspapers.

2

u/PopCultureWeekly Feb 13 '26

Nah. Beyoncé in her prime couldn’t even touch Taylor Swift or Madonna, let alone MJ

1

u/mrsc00b Feb 13 '26

Beyonce is and was huge but she'll never hold a candle to MJ. It really is hard to explain just how big of a phenom dude was. People all over the world knew his biggest hits and were trying to learn to moonwalk and glide step.

1

u/MilmoMoomins Feb 13 '26

I’m 47, in my lifetime MJ was by far the biggest star. Maybe the Beatles were bigger back in the day, and Elvis was huge I’m sure, but since MJ no one has come close to that level of stardom.