Did you know that the seven songs that was on that album all of them were in the top ten and four of them reached number one

Which album?

I'm not sure.

Bad

U.S.

I Just Can't Stop Loving You #1
Bad #1
The Way You Make Me Feel #1
Man in the Mirror #1
Dirty Diana #1
Another Part of Me #11
Smooth Criminal #7

U.K.

I Just Can't Stop Loving You #1
Bad #3
The Way You Make Me Feel #3
Man in the Mirror #2 (re-peaked after Michael's death)
Dirty Diana #4
Another Part of Me #15
Smooth Criminal #8
Leave Me Alone #2
Liberian Girl #13

Thriller

U.S.

The Girl Is Mine #2
Billie Jean #1
Beat It #1
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' #5
Human Nature #7
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) #10
Thriller #4

U.K.

The Girl Is Mine #8
Billie Jean #1
Beat It #3
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' #8
Human Nature #35 (charted in the wake of Michael's death)
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) #11
Thriller #10

Michael's album sales are extraordinary. Thriller and Bad are two of the ten highest-selling albums of all time in the U.K., and I think everyone knows that Thriller is the highest-selling album of all time around the world. Prince, Madonna and Whitney Houston sold a lot of records in the 1980s, but Michael eclipsed all of them with just two albums. Thriller has sold an estimated 65-70 million copies worldwide. That's the total worldwide sales of Madonna, Like a Virgin, True Blue and nearly all of Like a Prayer combined. Thriller has sold 30 million copies in the U.S., which is over half of Whitney's total U.S. album sales and nearly half of Madonna's. Just imagine if Michael had released more albums in the 1980s and 1990s.

what he or anyone did in america matters only to america.

there are plenty of acts that charted well there but had little or no impact here. its all well and good acknowledging artists impact in other countries, but it really means nothing here except to the fans of the artist in question.

ps there is a mj appreciation thread for this type of worship....

OR you can just refrain from clicking if you're not keen on the topic - it's not difficult. This is a music forum and the thread's music related. Yawn.

On the very rare occasion, otherwise it's just an extension of the Showbiz forum. Most people on here seem to be either obsessed with individual personalities, or paid to post on here by record companies .

He slept with strangers children.
He enjoyed books which featured nude children.

Amazingly people still adore him.

Compared to the circlejerk that some acts on this forum get, i'd consider Michael Jackson unappreciated

Your on the *cough* child molester *cough* boat I see

No it asked about amazing facts.

And he had negative facts as well as good facts...it is in a general music forum, not an appreciation forum.

He was a fan of Exeter City Football club

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpgWEbuU5TY

MJ was a genius, that's all I know.

The US is the largest English speaking music market in the world. Most of us Westerners seem to deal more or less exclusively with songs recorded in the English language and the vast majority of this popular music originates in the US and UK. As music fans, we can take notice of whatever charts we wish, or none. Worldwide sales certainly would be very significant to an artist's international status. It's not as if some of our UK acts try to break America for the fun of it.


And very much vice versa too.


Nonsense.

Some people only check an indie chart or a heavy metal chart or a club chart or whatever it is that floats their boat. It's not like they are doing music appreciation wrong because you'd suggest that they should be following the UK top 40. Since there are acts that aren't big in either the UK or US it stands to reason that some music fans who happen to use sales charts to discover their music might favour one over the other depending on which may be more representative of the type of music they prefer and therefore quite possible that they may take more heed of what is going on stateside.

The whole point is moot, considering he had just as much commercial success outside of the US. Bad is one of the best selling albums of all time in the UK. Earth Song is one of the best selling singles in UK chart history.

He's had ten UK number one albums:

Thriller #1
18 Greatest Love Songs #1
Bad #1
Dangerous #1
HIStory Past Present & Future Book I #1
Blood On The Dancefloor #1
Invincible #1
Number Ones #1
The Essential #1
Xscape #1

And seven UK number one singles:

One Day In Your Life #1
Billie Jean #1
I Just Can't Stop Loving You #1
Black or White #1
You Are Not Alone #1
Earth Song #1
Blood On The Dancefloor #1

its a general music discussion forum, so i and anyone else WILL counter the utter bullshit the adoring fans come out with...

those who want to praise this individual can do, in the dedicated thread unhindered by those of us who dont share the love for this unoriginal character.


lol... you dont know much then

so what?

I thought we didn't talk about him on here any more in the same way as we don't talk about Jimmy Saville et al?

huh... i think you are being pedantic here.

i know of no one in my 50 plus years of pop music listening that thinks what chart placings/sales outside the uk count towards the status of any individual here.

several 60's acts, the dave clark 5, hermans hermits, the yardbirds had much greater success in the states then they did here.... so what? how did that impact on their chart position here?.. their american number ones meant nothing to our charts.

but as i said, it was acknowledged and in some cases envied, yes taken heed, but it doesnt count towards what happened here... nor vice versa as you said.

so some guy coming saying 'hes had a million #1s' in america is a mute point from a uk point of view, it only matters IF we are assessing his worldwide appeal.

but if you are taking into account worldwide appeal, id suggest there are loads of acts who are popular worldwide that dont appeal the western pop tastes... so where do you draw the line?

why not?... theres a dedicated thread for praising him where you can do that in peace.

Well MJ was found not guilty in a court of law, so I think folks should lay off with the judgement.

So was OJ Simpson, funnily enough.

Hell yes

The frickin kid broke down in court and said his parents made him say it,

case closed darlin

We love you Michael. Let us never forget you.

Pedantic as in excessively concerned with minor details? Nope, I'm not being pedantic; this is not about minor detail, it's about an entire unrealistic scenario you've created where things are absolutely unconnected. That's not minor detail.

What you've decided isn't even based on what I've written. You misquoted me: "Worldwide sales certainly would be very significant to an artist's international status." are my words. That's 'INTERNATIONAL' status, not UK status - and the paragraph it's taken from shows the context of why I mention 'international'.


Yes, I agree. 'So what' indeed. You do realise that the UK top forty is not the music scene; it's only supposed to be a sales ranking of UK released singles?
"their american number ones meant nothing to our charts". That's completely silly. Do you think everything here happens in some sort of UK vacuum; that nothing else matters, yet somehow US records enter our charts but we don't notice the 'Americaness' of the tracks or artists, the UK departments of major labels just release them accidentally, have no idea how they have performed back home?!
Of course not everything performs similarly in the two territories, there's no reason it should: different market trends and vast amounts of releases only came out in one or other of the two. The charts aren't some sort of magical entity where every good tune lurks, with us having ours (UK) and them have theirs (US) and never the twain must meet. Much of what charts here is US music and much of what isn't has always been heavily influenced by US music.

Every record that has ever been released is released based on a decision. I don't think it would usually be good business to not release a big English language hit from one territory in other English-speaking territories. US and UK music are the two biggest players in the UK music scene (not of course that our music scene is precious or special or the only one up for discussion).


"Nor vice versa"? Really? Why not? Let's take a look. Your statement which I'd replied to:

"there are plenty of acts that charted well there but had little or no impact here."
Now, of course this is accurate, just as it is also accurate that there are plenty of acts that charted well here but had little or no impact there. Hence my comment in response: "And very much vice versa too"

The other part you wrote, "its all well and good acknowledging artists impact in other countries, but it really means nothing here except to the fans of the artist in question." is inaccurate for reasons I've shown above, which is part of the reason I replied to your post.


Some other guy coming saying that we are having a discussion only from a uk point of view is the real mute point here because no such parameters exist. We can discuss things far more widely than your own personal 'UK top forty-centric' view of popular music any time we choose. An American artist like Michael Jackson isn't a UK possession that must be viewed from a purely UK charts perspective.

Of course there are many artists who don't have a universal worldwide appeal. US artists who sing in English but have never charted here are extremely accessible to us, foreign language acts less so to many people but it's not a line I draw personally.