The ‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson is shaking up both the movie and music markets! With the success of the movie ‘Michael’, his legendary hits are regaining attention on global charts and setting new records.
On the 18th (local time), US Billboard announced that Michael Jackson topped the ‘Billboard Artist 100’. During the tracking period from the 8th to the 14th, his solo tracks recorded a total of 161.2 million official streams in the US.
His hit song ‘Billie Jean’ took 1st place on the ‘Billboard Global 200’. Released in 1983, it set a record as the oldest song to ever reach number one on this chart since its launch in 2020.
Other songs also climbed the charts: ‘Beat It’ (5th), ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’ (11th), ‘Human Nature’ (12th), ‘Smooth Criminal’ (25th), ‘Dirty Diana’ (34th), ‘Bad’ (37th), ‘Thriller’ (47th), ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ (56th), ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ (57th), ‘Rock With You’ (60th), ‘Chicago’ (61st), ‘You Rock My World’ (62nd), ‘P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)’ (97th), ‘Remember The Time’ (104th), ‘Man In The Mirror’ (108th), and ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin” (117th). Additionally, The Jackson 5’s ‘I Want You Back’ ranked 107th.
New records were also set on the ‘Hot 100’ chart. ‘Billie Jean’ (15th), ‘Human Nature’ (21st), ‘Beat It’ (29th), ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’ (36th), ‘Dirty Diana’ (44th), and ‘Rock With You’ (47th) all charted, meaning six songs entered the chart simultaneously. According to Billboard, this is the first time Michael Jackson has had six songs on the ‘Hot 100’ at once.
His strength continued on the album charts. On the ‘Billboard 200’, ‘Thriller’ ranked 5th and the best-of album ‘Number Ones’ ranked 6th. Furthermore, ‘The Essential Michael Jackson’ (83rd), ‘Off The Wall’ (93rd), ‘Dangerous’ (135th), and ‘Xscape’ (192nd) re-entered the chart, bringing his total to six albums on the chart.
The upward trend continued on Spotify as well. ‘Billie Jean’ hit 1st place on the Global Daily chart, and Michael Jackson topped the Global Weekly Top Artist chart.
He also showed a strong presence on the UK Official Charts. On the weekly album chart, ‘THE ESSENTIAL’ took 1st place, while ‘Thriller’ and ‘Bad’ ranked 5th and 6th respectively, putting three albums in the top 10. On the singles chart, ‘Billie Jean’ (3rd), ‘Beat It’ (5th), and ‘Human Nature’ (6th) all landed in the top 10.
The movie ‘Michael’ is also continuing its box office success. Starring Jaafar Jackson, the nephew of Michael Jackson, the film is performing well in the North American box office even in its fourth week of release.
According to Box Office Mojo, the movie has earned $289.21 million in North America and $423.95 million overseas, totaling $713.17 million worldwide. This ranks it as the second highest-grossing film of the year globally. Additionally, among musical biopics, it has surpassed ‘Elvis’ to become the second highest-grossing of all time, now chasing the top spot held by ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
Success in Korea is also smooth. Since its release on the 13th, it has held the number one spot at the box office for eight consecutive days, surpassing 778,429 cumulative viewers.
The industry believes the so-called ‘Michael Effect’ will continue for some time. With performance videos of Michael Jackson spreading once again, experts say this re-proves his timeless influence across generations.
