"I feel it and I see it. I'm visionary. So, if I can give that, I do. And that's what I love to do with music, with film, with dance." -Michael Jackson
Summary of Michael Jackson's Chart and Artistic Award History
There are many comments out there on the internet that
dispute Michael Jackson’s artistic accomplishments. Most often they belittle
Michael’s post Thriller accomplishments but I have also seen comments that say
that “Off The Wall” was the last great work he did. I always rebut those
comments when I see them. I have compiled a short summary of useful facts that
I have that help in that process.
Global Sales
Positions of Michael’s Adult Solo Albums
#1 Thriller – 1982 (million)
#10 Bad –
1987 (34 million)
#16
Dangerous – 1991 (32 million)
#68 Off The
Wall – 1979 (22 million)
#69 HIStory
– 1995 (22 million)
Chart Accomplishments
·
5 of 6 of his adult solo albums at #1 (Thriller,
Bad, Dangerous, HIStory, Invincible)
·
13 #1 singles as a solo artist, 4 more with J5
1st in 1972, Ben, and
last in 1995, YANA
9 of 13 written by Michael Jackson
·
28 Top 10 Singles as solo artist, plus 10 more
with J5/Jacksons
17 of 28 written by Michael
Jackson
·
36 Top 40 Hits
·
Most downloaded artist in history
·
Estimated global sales of 750,000
Awards
·
American Music Awards Artist of the Century
(2002)
·
Two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame (1997, 2001)
·
Vocal Group Hall of Fame (1999)
·
World Music Awards Best Selling Pop Artist of
the Millenium
·
Songwriters Hall of Fame (2002)
·
Dance
Hall of Fame
(2010)
·
13 Grammy Awards plus Grammy Legend Award and
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
·
26 American Music Awards, most of any artist
·
13 World Music Awards
·
1990 Artist of the Decade by President Bush
·
1992 Point of Light Ambassador for humanitarian
work by President Bush
·
2003 Nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize
Adult Solo Albums
·
Off The Wall-8/10/1979
- Estimated sales of 22 million
-#3 album
- Earned 1 Grammy, 5 AMA awards, 2
Billboard Awards
- Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008
- 4 singles released
Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough and
Rock With You at #1; Off The Wall, and She’s Out of My Life, #10
·
Thriller- 11/30/1982
-Estimated sales of 68-110
million, global best selling album of all time
-#1 album
-8 Grammys, 8 AMA awards, 14
Billboard Awards
-7 of 9 songs released as singles;
all top 10
-Holds the record for having the
greatest number of songs on Billboard top 10 in a single year
-Best seller for 2 years
(1983-1984)
·
Bad-8/31/1997
-Estimated sales of 34 million,
global #10 best selling album of all time
-Debuted at #1, sold 7 million in
4 months
-6 Grammy nominations, one win for
Best Music Video Short, 1 AMA
-First album in history to have 5
#1 singles;
-Michael Jackson composed 9 of 11
songs
-10 of 11 songs released as
singles: five at #1, one at #7, one at #11
·
Dangerous-11/26/1991
-Estimated 32 million in sales,
global #16 best selling album of all time
-Debuted at #1, sold 7 million in
2 months
- 4 Grammy nominations, one win
-9 singles released, 4 top 10, 8
reaching top 30
-Best selling New Jack Swing album
of all time
·
HIStory-6/16/1995
-Estimated 22 million in sales
-#1 album, best selling multi-disc
album of all time, #1 in 28 countries
-391,000 copies sold in the first
week beating the Beatles previous record of 360,000
-You Are Not Alone is the only
song to debut at #1
-Sold 7.5 million copies in 5
weeks
-Nominated for 5 Grammys winning
best short film for “Scream”
·
Blood On The Dancefloor-5/20/1997
-Estimated 6 million in sales
-Best selling remix album of all
time, peaked at #24 in the U.S.
-5 new songs of which 3 are from
the short film, “Ghosts”
-One Grammy nomination
·
Invincible-10/30/2001
-Estimated sales approaching 13
million
-Debuted at #1 in the U.S. and 11
other countries
-Fastest selling album in history;
3 million copies in 5 days
-3 songs released as singles, YRMW
(#10), Butterflies (#14) and Cry
-Gaining in respect in the U.S.
Solo Tours
·
Bad Tour
9/15/1987-1/24/1989
-123 concerts attended by 4.4
million people
- Largest grossing concert tour in
history: $125 million
-Broke world attendance record
with 504,000 people at Wembley Stadium
-Many charitable contributions in
the tour cities
·
Dangerous
Tour 6/27/1992-11/11/1993
-67 concerts attended by 3.5 million
people
-Exceeded the gross earnings of
the Bad Tour
-Proceeds donated to charity
·
HIStory
Tour 9/7/1996-10/15/1997
-82 concerts in 58 cities; 5
continents; 35 countries
-4.5 million people attended shows
on the HIStory Tour
-Exceeded gross earnings record of
both Bad and Dangerous Tours
Summary
Many people are misinformed in regard to Michael Jackson’s
post Thriller success. He was enormously successful as an adult solo artist
both commercially, with estimated global sales of 750,000, and as a touring
artist. He earned 13 Grammys, 26 American Music Awards, 40 Billboard awards,
and 13 World Music Awards. Five of his six adult solo albums charted at number
1. 5 of those, Thriller (#1), Bad (#10), Dangerous (#16), Off The Wall (#68)
and HIStory (#69), are in the top 70 albums in global sales. While Thriller is
estimated to have 110 million in sales, Bad (34 million), Dangerous (32
million), HIStory (22 million) and Off The Wall (22 million) were incredibly
successful commercially. Jackson
had 13 # singles and 28 top tens singles with only the Beatles at 29 and Elvis
at 36 exceeding this accomplishment. Michael Jackson is a two-time member of
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame,
the Dance Hall of
Fame, and was the American
Music Award’s Artist of the Century. Between 1987 and 1997, over 12 million
people attended a Michael Jackson concert. The Bad Tour between 1987 and 1988
was the highest grossing tour ever but both the Dangerous and HIStory Tours
subsequently broke that record. The HIStory Tour, between 1996 and 1997, was
one of the most successful tours in history with 82 concerts in 35 countries
with 4.5 million people coming out to see Michael Jackson. He has had Billboard
hits in 6 decades with the last one, “Hold My Hand” in 2011. A remix version of his song "Hollywood Tonight" reached the top of the Billboard dance charts in 2011. And, most recently a demo entitled, "Don't Be Messin' 'Round" became a #1 seller in the Billboard physical single CD category in July of 2012.
