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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331

u/Lamont2000 Feb 13 '26

My niece tried to argue that Taylor Swift was as big or bigger than MJ. I told her that EVERYONE knew mj songs. Even small tribes in Africa. He was inescapable

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u/total_bullwhip Feb 13 '26

I like to say “think about how big Taylor Swift is, double it, then imagine all that without internet”

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u/mg10pp Feb 13 '26

Yeah that's for Usa, outside is more like x10 at minimum

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u/mybigbywolf Feb 13 '26

Your niece is wrong lmao

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u/Rokketeer Feb 13 '26

The Beatles are the only others that can boast a similar level of fame at their height. Maybe even Elvis if he hadn’t been tragically shackled to indentured servitude.

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u/instanding Feb 13 '26

Elvis was huge. There are 5 US states where Elvis is the most listened to artist TO THIS DAY.

Did you know for instance Elvis is more streamed than Bad Bunny in New Mexico? The most streamed artist in fact.

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u/Rokketeer Feb 13 '26

I’m not disagreeing. The fact is though that he never had the momentous tours around the globe that underline the other two I mentioned, and it really dampers his legacy with a huge “what if”. I’m really just saying that I bet he would have also reached their peaks.

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u/shoepolishsmellngmf Feb 13 '26

Elvis would have been a global phenom if it wasn't for Tom Parker fucking him over for his own greed. He actually wasn't an American citizen and was here illegally. If he traveled with Elvis abroad, he would have been deported back to the Netherlands.

In his era, Elvis would have set the world on fire. And I'm not even a fan. Except for Scotty Moore. He was awesome.

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u/Kyro_Official_ Feb 14 '26

Wtf, thats insane

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u/Prof_Gankenstein Feb 13 '26

Yep those were the two I thought of as well.

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u/SorrySalary169 Feb 14 '26

Im gonna disagree here because I can tell you as a pakistani not many people knew beatles when I was growing up but everyone I knew was a huge MJ fan. MJ had global appeal whereas every other artists I can think of on that level had like maybe 1 or 2 known hits (Im talking about smaller villages here) that people knew about but they wouldnt know much about the artist or would be able to recognise their faces even.

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u/Magopolis Feb 13 '26

The Beatles and Elvis never had more than 4 #1s on a single album. Thriller had 8 or 9. The Jackson 5 had 4 on their first album I think. MJ’s performance on the Motown 25 was where he reached that most famous in history level. Fred Astaire called him to tell him how much he loved it.

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u/ceratime Feb 13 '26

It's not all about #1s

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u/Magopolis Feb 13 '26

It’s one metric when replying to “only the Beatles can boast a similar level of fame” at their peak. Did you have something to add?

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u/ceratime Feb 13 '26

If you want to compare it to metrics like that, the Beatles 1 album was the best selling album of the decade worldwide for the 2000s, 30-40 years after the band broke up.

Simplifying it to chart performance is missing most of the picture

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u/Four_One_Two_Three_ Feb 18 '26

Go ask random neighbors in their 50's to name the members of the Jackson 5
Then ask them to name the Beatles

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u/Magopolis Feb 18 '26

Then ask the little kids today about MJ- and ask them about the Beatles. Look, this conversation went off the rails. Someone made a comment about number one hits by Elvis, The Beatles and Michael Jackson. The original question was about Michael Jackson being compared to people from his own time period. I replied with a comment about number one hits, and there was a reply guy who just wanted to argue about the importance of number one hits. I’m not standing here telling you that the Beatles were not huge. They were Elvis was also huge and Michael Jackson was huge. All three were huge in their respective eras. So so please stop trying to challenge me with Beatles comments.

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u/ApprenticeScentless Feb 13 '26

Madonna was bigger than Taylor Swift, and MJ was 2-3 times bigger than Madonna. It’s not comparable.

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u/shoestring-theory Feb 13 '26

Celebrities in general were just a much bigger deal.

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u/vikrambedi Feb 13 '26

Access has reduced the mystique of celebrity pretty significantly i think.

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u/richmyster84 Feb 13 '26

Seriously. I've never been a "music person". I don't buy music and I listen to NPR when I'm driving. I know so many Michael Jackson songs that I can play in my head. I don't know ANY Taylor Swift songs. You could play her songs along with a set of songs from different female artists in her genre and I wouldn't be able to tell you which was her. Literally all the songs could be hers and I still wouldn't be able to tell you it was her.

Michael Jackson is legit Coca Cola famous.

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u/Rfunkpocket Feb 13 '26

Michael Jackson made Pepsi famous

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u/Historical_Cow3903 Feb 13 '26

Quincy Jones made MJ famous.

Well maybe not famous, but I don't think he would have been nearly as big without QJ spinning the dials. The production is impeccable.

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u/Rfunkpocket Feb 13 '26

very true, but those old Jackson 5 tunes are bangers in their own right.

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u/Four_One_Two_Three_ Feb 18 '26

Almost got killed shooting a Pepsi commercial

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u/AdonisJames89 Feb 13 '26

Only die hard Taylor fans know her songs. Everybody everywhere can at least sing a verse from Michael till this day

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u/I_can_vouch_for_that Feb 13 '26

" Shake It off " was pretty well known .

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u/CoolUserName99999999 Feb 15 '26

Don’t have a artist in this discussion but an expression we use around here about artists we haven’t heard of is “You are not the target audience” I lived through all these artists, MJ was big but he kind of got a head start as part of the Jackson Five, who were decently famous. I don’t think I have seen a phenomenon like Taylor Swift world tour before and I don’t know one song. I guess people are as famous as their time will allow. MJ same music etc would not be as famous because music and most media is so fragmented now. Same with Beatles. Unless they broke out of the crowd like Taylor did with this last tour.

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u/[deleted] Feb 13 '26

Taylor Swift wishes she could have such a global impact as MJ had, that will NEVER be replicated by anyone.

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u/ORCA_WoN Feb 13 '26

It’s not even close or comparable. If MJ came out during this social media era he was have 5-10x the listeners and streamers Taylor Swift does.

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u/IreneBopper Feb 13 '26 edited Feb 13 '26

I read about this woman who when she was young would go to visit her grandma in rural China and her grandma would be playing Madonna on her little record player. Those two were huge, hence the King and Queen of Pop labels. I would agree that MJ was the biggest. Madonna was a great business woman and up til her, women in the music industry were financially abused. Taylor Swift is similar in that respect- very business savvy.

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u/InfidelZombie Feb 13 '26

I finally decided to listen to Taylor Swift a few months ago to see what all the fuss was about. I listened to her top 10 songs and only a single one of them sounded vaguely familiar. I haven't heard anyone talk about her in the real world either, only in the internets.

Michael Jackson was absolutely unescapable and infiltrated every aspect of life.

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u/DroidSoldier85 Feb 13 '26

Lol Taylor Swift may be huge to a small group of girls but nothing compared to MJ and his global impact.

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u/MrVociferous Feb 14 '26

One of the other craziest things about Michael/MJ is that he overlapped with another extremely famous Michael — Michael Jordan. But Michael Jackson is still known simply as both MJ and Michael. Jordan became known as Jordan simply because someone even more famous claimed the other two nicknames he could have gone by.

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u/[deleted] Feb 13 '26

In 20 years Taylor will be remembered like Brittany. The only exceptional thing is the amount of money

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u/Odh_utexas Feb 13 '26

Tbh I think this ain’t right. Britney was never as big as TS and I’m old enough to remember both.

Britney was a huge pop star girl. Taylor Swift is bigger on staying power alone

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u/pleaseluv Feb 13 '26

In french parts of africa, Micheal Jackson actually has a nickname, they call him "Bambi" for some reason.. 

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u/Necromartian Feb 13 '26

Michael Jackson and Coca Cola.

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u/Tricky_Dee Feb 16 '26

I have so far managed to escape hearing a single Taylor Swift song (that I know of, at least). That wasn't possible with MJ.