Billie Jean has hit over 2 billion views on youtube

OMG YASSSSSSSS
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Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video was played so frequently on MTV after its 1983 premiere that it was shown twice every hour due to overwhelming demand.

This is the only thing that matters.

That's a lot of viewers, every hour! Do the math yourself.

AND the statistics for Billie Jean is definitely up there as well.
 
This is the only thing that matters.
What a silly thing to say.

Of course that's not something that matters.

The only thing that matters is how good the video is, and how much I enjoy it when I watch it.

Anybody watching MTV would have a pretty bad experience, it would be ridiculously boring to have the same 14-minute video forced down your throat every 30 minutes, whether you liked it or not.
 
Anybody watching MTV would have a pretty bad experience, it would be ridiculously boring to have the same 14-minute video forced down your throat every 30 minutes, whether you liked it or not.
How is that any different from the radio? A song becomes a hit because it is played over and over. Even more so today. A few years ago I remember hearing Beyoncé literally 5 times in one hour on the same radio station. It wasn't the same song, but still. She was played multiple times every hour, Usher too. Also, since rap features are common, I'd hear the same rappers on different songs by different artists.
 
What a silly thing to say.

Of course that's not something that matters.

The only thing that matters is how good the video is, and how much I enjoy it when I watch it.

Anybody watching MTV would have a pretty bad experience, it would be ridiculously boring to have the same 14-minute video forced down your throat every 30 minutes, whether you liked it or not.

I may have been a bit vague in my statement, but I think you misunderstood my point and I'll be glad to explain further to show where I'm coming from.

Take Thriller: It has always been regarded as the most popular and famous music video of all time. It was a cultural phenomena. But on Youtube, previous popularity suddenly means nothing and ends up underrated in views. Thriller, which should always be in the top, is not there. In regards to views, many of the videos from the 80's are severely underrated in viewcount.

It has always bothered me when some random house/hip hop song suddenly have many more views than the Thriller-video. It causes incongruence between the real popularity of this and many other videos. The many houndreds of millions, and even billions, of views from MTV is suddenly all but forgotten. In this day and age when that seems to be the most important, it feels fair game to expect the popular stuff from back in the days to reflect that in terms of views.

I can't help but get annoyed. I'm a Michael Jackson-fan after all...

EDIT: expect, not except..
 
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Take Thriller: It has always been regarded as the most popular and famous music video of all time. It was a cultural phenomena. But on Youtube, previous popularity suddenly means nothing and ends up underrated in views
Thanks for the explanation.

Yeah, the YouTube view count means how many times it's been viewed on YouTube. Nothing more, nothing less. It's not a measure of popularity or fame. It's arbitrary. In short - the numbers don't matter.

Same with today's "pop chart", it's based on streams, not sales, so you can't compare it to a sales chart. They're different things. One is actual record sales, one is streams, and one is TV views.

Thriller, which should always be in the top, is not there. In regards to views, many of the videos from the 80's are severely underrated in viewcount.
It really really doesn't matter.

It has always bothered me when some random house/hip hop song suddenly have many more views than the Thriller-video
I learned 20 years ago not to get bothered by such triviality.

It's possible that YouTube shuts down tomorrow, and everybody starts using a different website for videos, where everything starts from zero again. That doesn't mean that Thriller isn't a great video, lol.

It causes incongruence between the real popularity of this and many other videos. The many houndreds of millions, and even billions, of views from MTV is suddenly all but forgotten
Look at it another way. I'm struggling to accept the claim of "every 30 mins" is true, but even if it is - even that doesn't matter. If I didn't like the Thriller video, then playing it again 16 minutes after it finished, would be enough for me to stop watching MTV, and to cancel my cable subscription. It's not a good look.

In this day and age when that seems to be the most important
No.

No.

It's just popularity. It's literally the most unimportant thing. Everybody has different tastes. Stop getting worked up about it.

I really wish people would stop worrying about other people. Look after yourself. Accept that other people don't like what you like. This is one of the reasons people think MJ fans are crazy.

I can't help but get annoyed. I'm a Michael Jackson-fan after all...
As a MJ fan, it's my role to enjoy his music. I play it and I have fun. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm not MJ's publicist. I don't get a bonus if he's #1. I don't have shares in Sony. I couldn't care less if MJ is popular or not. It's not my responsibility, and it doesn't affect me one bit.
 
Imagine comparing an artist who has been dead for over 15 years to an active artist who is releasing new music every year. What a silly comparison.
My thoughts exactly. Michael’s been gone for 17 years, the fact that he is *still* in the big leagues and breaking numbers&views is unparalleled in and of itself. There is no new music, no promotion, no marketing. Granted, we had the Michael teaser going wild, but that happened only a few months ago. No other deceased celebrity maintains this kind of impact posthumously.
 
As a MJ fan, it's my role to enjoy his music. I play it and I have fun. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm not MJ's publicist. I don't get a bonus if he's #1. I don't have shares in Sony. I couldn't care less if MJ is popular or not. It's not my responsibility, and it doesn't affect me one bit.

I enjoyed your nuanced take on this, and I agree, we should not care too much about this popularity stuff. But somewhere at the back of my head I knew Michael was very competitive and would at the very least keep an eye out of what was happening on Youtube, especially once that VEVO-stuff was introduced. I especially don't think he was done in the fight with sony, but that's another topic.

Enjoy the music!!!

Right now I'm rocking Blame It On the Boogie on a Technics turntable. :)
 
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