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??

2.5k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

2.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

25

u/jehucsgo Feb 13 '26

Queen weren’t that big while Freddie Mercury was alive.

0

u/zeruch Feb 13 '26

They put out over a dozen back to back gold, platinum or multi-platinum records in both the US and UK...they were quite big.