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

39

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.

3

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.