I don't agree. TDCAU is a classic, as we both agreed, but it was never #1 - at least in the US. Same with Smooth Criminal. Even the general public knows where "Annie are you OK?" is coming from and everything associated with that song is iconic from the lean to MJ's outfit. Definitely a classic but it peaked only at #7 in the US. Do you know which songs were ahead of it back then?
Phil Collins - Two Hearts
Taylor Dayne - Don't Rush Me
Def Leppard - Armageddon It
Bobby Brown - My Prerogative
Sheriff - When I'm With You
Poison - Every Rose Has Its Thorn
http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1989-01-21
I wouldn't consider any of these bigger classics than SC just because they peaked higher than SC, in fact most of these songs, and even the artists performing them, are pretty much forgotten by now.
A classic is not necessarily about being #1 or its chart position when it is released. Sometimes a song is #1 but it won't have any longevity in public memory. And sometimes another song doesn't get to #1 when it is released but somehow has more logevity and more relevance to later generations than the songs which were ahead of them when they were released. So what is a classic and what isn't a classic is a lot more complicated than just chart positions. It's more about longevity than about chart positions.
Well, sometimes you will just have to seperate your own taste from an assassment of what is a classic. There are songs (not MJ) that I don't like but I would never deny they are classics just because I am subjectively not so fond of them. A classic isn't about anyone's subjective taste IMO. Like I said in my first post in this thread, I think you do have to see some level of popularity - or let's add longevity to that now - of a song, some level of impact on general pop culture (and not just hard core fans) to consider it a classic IMO.
But again, this is just about "I don't like DSTYGE as much as I do some other MJ songs". Which is fine for a subjective, individual opinion, but I am not sure this is how classics are defined.