Dirty Diana on HIStory?

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

Believe it or not, but Diane Dimond is the reason, Dirty Diana is on Number Ones.

 

[Hamburglar]

Because it was reserved for HIStory book 2

Yeah, can't wait for that to see the light of day!

 

[Agonum]

Why are TGIM, WBSS, SOOML, RTT, HTW on the disc? They weren't #1 like Dirty Diana.

The allegations could be the reason, why Dirty Diana is missing. Michael sings in DD:
Because he's sleeping with me
This could've been taken out of context.

Smooth Criminal is also missing, maybe for the same reason.

It’s not called “number ones”, so the songs didn’t need to have been number one singles. I believe they rather went for impactful songs and a diverse tracklist.

 

[Agonum]

Dirty Diana is a greater hit than the ones that took its space on the disc.
It's the only #1 that is missing, except Say Say Say and Ben.

Depends on what charts you are tracking.

 

[Agonum]

There was no need to include songs from Dangerous for the most part because none of the songs were all that big save for "Black or White". "Heal the World" had no place at all. "Remember the Time", "In the Closet" and "Will You Be There" were fairly popular singles, but they weren't tremendous successes, so they didn't need to be included. And they're so recent compared to most of the first disc. If 15 tracks had to be limit, then it's better to mainly go for old hits; you don't need more than one of the newer hits.

1. Don't Stop til You Get Enough
2. Rock with You
3. The Girl is Mine
4. Billie Jean
5. Beat It
6. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
7. Human Nature
8. Thriller
9. I Just Can't Stop Loving You
10. Bad
11. The Way You Make Me Feel
12. Dirty Diana
13. Man In The Mirror
14. Smooth Criminal
15. Black or White

Is what the first disc should have been.

In what world is that a better first disc than the one we got? It’s pretty much the Thriller and Bad albums with Black or White added as a bonus.

 

[Agonum]

Remember The Time was a big hit. It reached the top 10 in literally every music market, including the USA where it peaked at number 3. Heal The World wasn't a big hit in the USA, but it was a top 10 hit in international markets. I can see why there were included.

Precisely so. The US is not the be-all and end-all.

 

[Agonum]

Definitely not as big as "Dirty Diana", so no reason for it to make the cut over that. Charted higher than "Smooth Criminal" on the Hot 100, but they sold about the same number of copies as singles worldwide. "Remember the Time" only came out 3 years before History, though. "Smooth Criminal" was 8 years old at the time and had more classic status.

In the name of diversity: yes, there was. Just throwing the entire Thriller or Bad album on the first disc doesn’t make it a well-thought-out ‘greatest hits’.

 

[Spaceship]

In the name of diversity: yes, there was. Just throwing the entire Thriller or Bad album on the first disc doesn’t make it a well-thought-out ‘greatest hits’

Except it's not the entire album lol

 

[Agonum]

Except it's not the entire album lol

Still, your suggested tracklist is 67 % of Thriller and 60 % of Bad (not counting Leave Me Alone), while including a measly 20 % of Off the Wall and a preposterous 6(.5) % of Dangerous. In other words, this “HIStory begins” would be 40 % Thriller, 40 % Bad, 13 % Off the Wall, and 7 % Dangerous. I fail to see how that is an improvement over what we currently have.

 

[Spaceship]

Thriller and Bad had the most hits; of course they would make most of a greatest hits album lol

You include the most popular songs on a greatest hits album fam

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

Off The Wall would be the only greatest hits some people would want. Bad is only popular with fans.

 

[Spaceship]

Bad is popular with the general public. Literally had five number-one singles on the Hot 100, which is still a record today.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

The general public barely talk about Bad.

 

[Agonum]

Thriller and Bad had the most hits; of course they would make most of a greatest hits album lol

You include the most popular songs on a greatest hits album fam

There are other considerations, too.

 

[Victorious]

In the Ebony interview from 1987 MJ says 'Dirty Diana' is a favourite of his

 

[Thatkliqkid]

Not only did Heal the World hit the #2 spot in the UK and remain in the top 10 for 7 weeks it was at #2 the week of Christmas, meaning had I will always love you by Whitney Houston not been out at the same time it was in with a shot of being that year's UK Christmas number 1.

Dirty Diana reached #1 in two countries. Heal The World hit #1 in Spain.

It's one of his well-known hits.

 

[filmandmusic]

Also to give some perspective, it is really huge to have the Christmas nr 1 single in the UK, it is as prestigious as it gets. Too bad Whitney Houston was a party pooper.

Do you remember when heal the world was nr 2?
I listened to the ra di o from night till dawn
Do you remember how close it came?
If not for Whitney Houston it would have become 1!

 

[Thatkliqkid]

Also to give some perspective, it is really huge to have the Christmas nr 1 single in the UK, it is as prestigious as it gets. Too bad Whitney Houston was a party pooper.

Do you remember when heal the world was nr 2?
I listened to the ra di o from night till dawn
Do you remember how close it came?
If not for Whitney Houston it would have become 1!

According to the official charts website Heal the World was number 2 in the UK from the week beginning 6th December 1992 - week beginning 3rd January 1993.

Slightly off topic but Earth Song actually did hit the prestigious Christmas number 1 spot in 1995..

 

[R1chard]

To be honest, when History first came out I was puzzled about Smooth Criminal and DD.

But then I figured you can't include everything in 80 minutes. If anything, it shows how strong MJs back catalogue is that he can release a greatest hits without something as massive as Smooth Criminal.

"Heal the World", not in the America. People would get it confused for "We Are the World".

Most people have never heard of WATW.

A song that hits number one is generally more popular than one that doesn't.

That's a bit if a simplified view. Ultimately, the chart position itself doesn't tell you very much. It depends what else comes out that week.

A song could sell 2 million copies but only get to number 2, or you could sell 50k copies and get to number 1 if you're against nothing else n particularly.

"Heal the World" isn't one of the exceptions when it literally flopped in a country as big as the United States.

Again, you're only talking about the US, which has strange tastes.

HTW was almost a UK Christmas #1, which would have made it one of the biggest highlights of his career.

is the biggest country in the world.

Wtf? Try 3rd biggest by population and 3rd biggest by area.

Wow! Belgium could have it's very own MJ / Number Ones CD.

Actually, look up the "King of Pop" album. Every country had it's own track list.

Also, I believe in Spain he had 18 number ones!

 

[Spaceship]

Most people have never heard of WATW.

>Eighth best selling physical single of all time with over 20 million sold worldwide
>Number one in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, UK, US, etc

Yeah, no reason to read the rest of your post lol