Not releasing "Give in to Me" as a single in the US was a mistake.

No point in releasing the demo over the final song. The demo doesn't even feature Slash.
 
Generally, they do. If a song charts high, it's popular in the country.



Hot 100 is the biggest chart that tells you the most popular songs in the country. In 1992, these were the singles that were selling and being played on the radio the most.
Those are the songs that are being played the most on Top 40 radio. A song being played 100 times a week on Top 40 radio is no different from a song being played 100 times on a Tejano (Mexican music) station. Before streaming, chart positions were not only based on radio airplay, but also sales of 45s (singles). That's why Isn't She Lovely wasn't a hit, despite radio airplay. It didn't qualify because of the Billboard criteria of the time. Billboard was not the only chart magazine either, There were others like Cash Box, and they were not identical.

Also some people bought the album instead of the 45, or they bought the 12" maxi single with several remixes. Remix singles were on a separate chart
 
Those are the songs that are being played the most on Top 40 radio

Top 40 is mainstream and gets the most listeners. Other radio stations aren't mainstream, so they're not as popular.

A song that's only a hit on Latin radio isn't as big as a song that's a hit on Top 40, shocker. You may continue bringing up random facts, though.
 
Top 40 is mainstream and gets the most listeners. Other radio stations aren't mainstream, so they're not as popular.

A song that's only a hit on Latin radio isn't as big as a song that's a hit on Top 40, shocker. You may continue bringing up random facts, though.
The most popular songs in the US were not Top 40 only, but ones that are popular on multiple radio formats (in addition to Top 40 )at the same time. Not everybody listened to Top 40. Top 40 is mainly white listeners. "Mainstream" is code for white. That's why non-white artists had to "crossover" to Top 40. But white artists like Hall & Oates, Lisa Stansfield, or George Michael who got played on R&B radio were not said to "crossover". This is also why white artists like Elvis Presley, Rolling Stones, Eminem, & New Kids On The Block got way more Top 40 airplay & sales than most Black artists doing the same kind of music. Most Black artists did not get on MTV, that's why BET was created. Rock radio didn't play Black artists not named Jimi Hendrix, and also very few female artists. The USA is and was segregated.

A song cannot be popular on Top 40 if the radio programmers refuse to play it, or the record companies don't promote (aka payola) it to Top 40. Anyway, the Billboard charts can be easily faked and they have been all this time. Payola is not only for radio airplay. RIAA sales can be faked too. The RIAA does audit anything, they just go by what the record labels tell them and it's voluntary to report sales. Plus the labels have to pay for certifications.
 
Blaming everything on white people again, I see.

By the 1990s, being black wasn't really detrimental to your career if you were a recording artist. If you struggled to make hits on the Hot 100, then it's just because your music wasn't commercially viable.

How many black rock artists were there in the 60s or 70s, really? Note that funk isn't the same thing as rock.

Young black artists like Bobby Brown and Boyz II Men were just as big as New Kids on the Block; Boyz were arguably even bigger.

The Eminem point is funny, because one of the reasons he struggled to make it as a rapper was because he was white.
 
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Blaming everything on white people again, I see.

By the 1990s, being black wasn't really detrimental to your career if you were a recording artist. If you struggled to make hits on the Hot 100, then it's just because your music wasn't commercially viable.

How many black rock artists were there in the 60s or 70s, really? Note that funk isn't the same thing as rock.

Young black artists like Bobby Brown and Boyz II Men were just as big as New Kids on the Block; Boyz were arguably even bigger.

The Eminem point is funny, because one of the reasons he struggled to make it as a rapper was because he was white.
Over the last 15 years I've been hearing in the mainstream media (print & TV) that the Eagles has the biggest selling album in history. Why do you think that is? How many Japanese, Arab. or Indian artists get Top 40 airplay, in the past or today? Many sing in English.
 
Eagles' Greatest Hits is the best selling album in the US, but Thriller is the best selling worldwide.

There aren't as many Japanese, Arab, Indian, etc people in the US as there are white people. As such, there aren't many Japanese, Arab, Indian, etc singers.

We're going way off topic to argue about nothing. "Jam"'s chart positions show that it was a flop by MJ's standards, even outside of the US. Charts allegedly being rigged to help white people is irrelevant, because that wasn't the case here. MJ was embraced by people of all races and ethnicities, anyway.
 
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