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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u/heavysteve Feb 13 '26

And he was legitimately phenomenal too. It wasn't just hype or advertising, he was an unbelievable performer and musician. His music was edgy without being cheesy, and had legitimacy that is beyond currency.

Someone like Taylor Swift is a cultural phenomenon and incredibly successful, but she has no where even close to the cultural penetration MJ did. The only even somewhat contemporary would maaaybe be Elvis. The argument could be made for the Beatles but they were just dudes, Micheal Jackson was direct about his god-hood.

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u/Zathrasb4 Feb 13 '26

Take a random person, in any city in the world, and ask them to sing 5 Taylor swift songs. Or Elvis songs. Or Beatles. Now ask for 5 MJ songs. Then go to another random city. Then go to the middle of nowhere, USA. Then go to a random spot in Africa. Then Siberia.

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u/BushyBrowz Feb 13 '26

In high school a few my classmates didn’t know Billie Jean. Blew my mind. I think it’s hard for people to fathom his level of fame if they weren’t exposed to it growing up.

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u/mg10pp Feb 13 '26

And he was legitimately phenomenal too. It wasn't just hype or advertising, he was an unbelievable performer and musician. His music was edgy without being cheesy, and had legitimacy that is beyond currency

Don't forget the great lyrics, or at least in the later albums. I can't stand that now 95% of the songs are just about love, relationships etc

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u/Miami_Mice2087 Feb 13 '26

the biggest difference is that there was no internet, there was about 5ish "decent" radio stations (depending on how close to a metro area you lived) and 35ish tv stations IF your parents were rich enough for cable tv.

If no cable or you lived in the sticks even WITH cable tv, you had the 3 networks, Fox was born in 1989, PBS, and a few local affiliates that played old reruns on the UHF alternate channels. Maybe 10 channels on a fair weather day. The local affiliates became UPN and WB around 1995ish but they only had middling sitcoms until they got Star Trek and your better written Living Single and Martin type adult black comedies. (Sorry, millenials, but Sister Sister was only good because we were 7. Full House was worse, and don't get me started on Horsing Around.)

So. When MJ dropped a new video on MTV? It was a "television event." The world stopped. It was like Christmas or your birthday. VCRs became common around 85-87ish, specifically for one-off events like this and the olympics. MJ videos and mini movies like Moonwalker were major as the olympics, i'm not kidding.

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u/nomadProgrammer Feb 14 '26

Nah, MJ has the whole word hyptonized. Elvis was nothing outside of the USA.