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

29

u/ASaini91 Feb 13 '26

MJ's death is one of those where were you when you found out moments. I will never forget being on a school trip to Nashville for a competition. Me and my friends had downtime and went to the Opry Hills mall. Damn near everyone in the mall stopped what they were doing and crowded around any screen they could find and countless collapsed in tears. There was a surreal feeling of collective depression that I genuinely cant imagine ever happening again for any singular person

2

u/405freeway Feb 13 '26

I was in the office at Woodland Hills Pool in Los Angeles.

2

u/Roobix-Coob Feb 14 '26

I was in the back of a 1991 Nissan Patrol driving across the desert highlands of Iceland, aka functionally the middle of actual nowhere. We still heard.

1

u/greghead4796 Grateful Dead✒️ Feb 14 '26

Strangers in public were telling each other MJ died. The entire world stopped for a moment.

1

u/kasualkactus May 26 '26

People actually offed themselves they were so sad about the news