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MJ vs Madonna - Who wants A Laugh?

I totally agree. I ran across it today also and thought about signing into the site to point out all the things he got wrong, and it was one of the most biased things I've read in ages, but plenty of other people had done it already.
 
So they are saying that Michael is not innovative? I'm just saying the following: Light Man. Dangerous Tour jetpack exit. HIStory Tour rocket entrance. Several short films. Super Bowl Performance. Smooth Criminal shoes. Will You Be There performance with a descending angel. Do I have to say more?
 
I kind of agree, although MJ was a great show man, at most his shows focused on him and a few dancers. At Madonna's concerts there is whole sideshow going on. I voted for MJ anywaya as Madonna has released a lot of crap in her career (Her last 3 albums are virtually unlistenable) and she is a bitch at times with questionable morals.

Thank God the writer did not focus too much on scandals, I don't know where he got the History sales figures from unless he was counting 2CD sets in USA only. I thought worldwide sales were like 20 million of that album and it was a smash.
 
I'm glad that the commenters have sense lol XD
 
I read it a couple of days ago and the part about the videos is nonsense. For one, the guy acts as if MJ's career ended with Thriller and basically ignores the rest of MJ's career (typical). He is called out on that in the comment section and he answered with some nonsense claiming that MJ's videos have been all similar after that and there was nothing innovative in them. LOL. Yeah, I guess Scream is totally like The Way You Make Me Feel visually, Smooth Criminal is totally like Stranger In Moscow etc.

As for long term relevance. Yes, Madonna is still going and MJ doesn't, well, because he is dead and even before that he had his share of problems. But that doesn't mean her art is more relevant on the long term than MJ's. Go to any streaming service and you will see that.

For videos see YouTube. YouTube counts viewership by artist since September 2014. MJ has 2.2 billion views since while Madonna has 0.6 billion. And she is still active and just released an album during that period and MJ did not - it's just people going back to watch his old videos. But MJ videos were still a lot more viewed!

MJ: https://www.youtube.com/yt/artists/insights-artist.html?artist=/m/09889g&artistname=Michael Jackson

Madonna: https://www.youtube.com/yt/artists/insights-artist.html?artist=/m/01vs_v8&artistName=Madonna


It's the same on Spotify (although of course that's just about the music, not videos or visuals).

Michael's Top 10

1. Billie Jean 105,247,228
2. Beat It 66,537,068
3. Man in the Mirror 64,104,109
4. Smooth Criminal 47,797,254
5. Love Never Felt So Good (JT duet) 46,169,980
6. Thriller 44,191,752
7. Hold My Hand 37,692,230
8. Love Never Felt So Good (solo) 36,892,722
9. P.Y.T. 31,162,986
10. They Don't Care About Us 30,678,206


Madonna's Top 10

1. Like A Prayer 18,587,253
2. 4 Minutes (JT duet) 18,270,748
3. La Isla Bonita 16,624,994
4. Material Girl 16,414,924
5. Hung Up 16,072,711
6. Bitch I'm Madonna 14,984,759
7. Vogue 13,184,984
8. Like A Virgin 11,943,731
9. Ghosttown 9,748,592
10. Like a Virgin (a different version) 7,285,976

No contest, really.

In terms of influence. We can go on about how Michael's videos influenced others - including his videos from the 90s. Just from the top of my head. Does this remind you of Scream?


I think Chris Brown also has a video that reminds of Scream.

Several people noted that Pharrell's latest video has similar visuals to prison version TDCAU.

mjprince1976 said:
I kind of agree, although MJ was a great show man, at most his shows focused on him and a few dancers. At Madonna's concerts there is whole sideshow going on. I voted for MJ anywaya as Madonna has released a lot of crap in her career (Her last 3 albums are virtually unlistenable) and she is a bitch at times with questionable morals.
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I agree about tours though, but that's not a minus in my eyes. Madonna's were more visually spectacular, but that's because Michael was such a charismatic and such a talented performer that he was able to carry a show all alone - HE was the show. Madonna simply does not have that kind of talent and so she needs more assistance in terms of visuals, pirotechnics, spectacular sets, costumes etc.
 
The article was just ridiculous, and biased because he's her fan. Most of what he said about Michael's career and relevance is just simply untrue.

Regarding videos. What about Katy Perry and Dark horse and RTT? Didn't Justin B. rip off TWYMMF?
I'm sure there are a lot more.
 
Lol I did some research about either of these artists' relevancy in the 90s. I came up with this:

Michael had 11 hits which reached the top ten in more than 10 countries. Out of which Earth Song and Black or White topped 90% of the charts. Black or White also topped 24 of it's total 26-27 territories - which beats Billie Jean by a country mile (although Billie Jean is the superior song, Black or White is much more famous - or at least was until his death). Earth Song on the other hand topped 11 or 12 countries. The total number of singles he released in the 90s was 21.

Madonna had 11 hits that reached the top ten in more than 10 counties as well. However, the total number of singles she released during the 90's was 29. She also didn't have a mega smash hit which topped more than 10 charts - or a hit which charted in the top 10 of 20 territories. However, three of her singles did breach the top ten in 19 territories.

In the albums business, Madonna clearly takes the cake though mainly because she released an album every other year. While Michael sold around 56 million albums with just three albums, Madonna sold 74 million with seven albums. A huge gap, but Michael's catalog sales were pretty strong especially of Thriller and I'm not counting them. So while Madonna's overall album sales were pretty good, Michael had much more impactful and stronger album sales.
 
MAQ: I am sure MJ has sold more than that, my sources, say that MJ sold 15 million copies of Off The wall, at least 55 million of Thriller and 30 Million each of Bad and Dangerous, 10 million of History and 3 million each of Invincible, Michael, King of Pop, Number 1s and Xscape (Both versions). Add on 20 million or so Jackson5/Jacksons sales and at least 50 million single and we have at least quarter of a billion records. And I consider these global figures very conservative, the number of albums sold is probably a lot more.

Madonna sold huge numbers of her 80s albums (True Blue is her biggest seller, with some 11 million sold) but her post 1992 output with the glittering exception of Greatest Hits Volume 2 and Ray of Light, she has barely gone platinum with each album. From what I read she sold 4 million of the first album, 9 million of Like a Virgin, 11 million of True Blue, 1 million each of Whos that girl and you can dance, 5 million of Like a Prayer, Immaculate Collection (Hitz and new songs) about 15 million and 2 million of Erotica and Bedtime stories. Music, Evita, Confessions I think went platinum with Something to remember (1995 ballads collection). Whereas I doubt Hard Candy, American Life, MDNA and Rebel HearT have not even shipped gold. Overall about 60 million albums and maybe 20 million singles (Only 2 songs went platinum, several went gold) - Madonna had a lot of top 10 and top 40 hits, but you find they rise and drop very quickly, usually in and out in the space of 6 weeks. MDNA had one charting single and Rebel Heart has had 3 flops so far including "Bitch I'm Madonna". The poor quality of these albums is the reason why I am not seeing Madge next year in her first NZ concert. I loved her in the 1980s, repsected her in the 1990s (Erotica is a very good album!) but since 2000, she has been terrible (Although I do like some songs on each album and Confessions is a good album).

Michael is the sales star and probably the biggest selling pop artist of the Post 1980 era (So all you purists who shriek Beatles and Babs). His records still sell boatloads today. Even when Elvis died, his records did not completely sell out like MJ's did. There was a period of a week after his death, where stores ran out of Michael Jackson music and more albums had to be pressed up! Honestly not that I was worried, but I had a lot of friends who were casual MJ fans and they decided to buy at least King of Pop, Number 1s or History as a memento, only to be greeted by signs saying "We are awaiting more albums by Michael Jackson from our suppliers"
 
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respect77 said:
I agree about tours though, but that's not a minus in my eyes. Madonna's were more visually spectacular, but that's because Michael was such a charismatic and such a talented performer that he was able to carry a show all alone - HE was the show. Madonna simply does not have that kind of talent and so she needs more assistance in terms of visuals, pirotechnics, spectacular sets, costumes etc.
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Could Madonna stand as still as a statue and have people (both men and women) crying, screaming and fainting in her audience?
 
mjprince1976 said:
MAQ: I am sure MJ has sold more than that, my sources, say that MJ sold 15 million copies of Off The wall, at least 55 million of Thriller and 30 Million each of Bad and Dangerous, 10 million of History and 3 million each of Invincible, Michael, King of Pop, Number 1s and Xscape (Both versions). Add on 20 million or so Jackson5/Jacksons sales and at least 50 million single and we have at least quarter of a billion records. And I consider these global figures very conservative, the number of albums sold is probably a lot more.

Madonna sold huge numbers of her 80s albums (True Blue is her biggest seller, with some 11 million sold) but her post 1992 output with the glittering exception of Greatest Hits Volume 2 and Ray of Light, she has barely gone platinum with each album. From what I read she sold 4 million of the first album, 9 million of Like a Virgin, 11 million of True Blue, 1 million each of Whos that girl and you can dance, 5 million of Like a Prayer, Immaculate Collection (Hitz and new songs) about 15 million and 2 million of Erotica and Bedtime stories. Music, Evita, Confessions I think went platinum with Something to remember (1995 ballads collection). Whereas I doubt Hard Candy, American Life, MDNA and Rebel HearT have not even shipped gold. Overall about 60 million albums and maybe 20 million singles (Only 2 songs went platinum, several went gold) - Madonna had a lot of top 10 and top 40 hits, but you find they rise and drop very quickly, usually in and out in the space of 6 weeks. MDNA had one charting single and Rebel Heart has had 3 flops so far including "Bitch I'm Madonna". The poor quality of these albums is the reason why I am not seeing Madge next year in her first NZ concert. I loved her in the 1980s, repsected her in the 1990s (Erotica is a very good album!) but since 2000, she has been terrible (Although I do like some songs on each album and Confessions is a good album).

Michael is the sales star and probably the biggest selling pop artist of the Post 1980 era (So all you purists who shriek Beatles and Babs). His records still sell boatloads today. Even when Elvis died, his records did not completely sell out like MJ's did. There was a period of a week after his death, where stores ran out of Michael Jackson music and more albums had to be pressed up! Honestly not that I was worried, but I had a lot of friends who were casual MJ fans and they decided to buy at least King of Pop, Number 1s or History as a memento, only to be greeted by signs saying "We are awaiting more albums by Michael Jackson from our suppliers"
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If you re-read MAQ post you'll see that he was comparing their 90's careers, hits and sales. Not their whole careers because that would make no sense because MJ would kill her in terms of sales and charts success if he counted the 80's.

I don't know what are your "sources" but worldwide sales of Thriller in total is a lot more than 55 million. According to Mediatraffic by March 2015 it sold 66 MIL if I'm reading this correctly (or is it 68?? - "albums with global sales of 2 million copies with additional 2 million copies indicated by a numeral following the symbol"). Also according to Mediatraffic Bad sold 32 MIL, Dangerous 30, Off The Wall & HIStory 20 MIL.

Also just in 2000's Invincible has sold 7 MIL and Number Ones 9 MIL.

In 2014 Xscape has sold 1.523.000 copies.

http://www.mediatraffic.de/alltime-album-chart.htm
http://www.mediatraffic.de/2000-2009-album-chart.htm
 
analogue said:
Could Madonna stand as still as a statue and have people (both men and women) crying, screaming and fainting in her audience?
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Crying and screaming? Definitely, that happens at basically every concert anyway. Fainting? I'm sure there are people who have fainted at a Madonna show.

I know for certain Michael's visual material (aka his music videos) have lasted longer in the public conscience than that of Madonna's. She's obviously still ridiculously famous and everyone knows of her and her biggest songs, but Michael's legacy is greater imo. I like a good number of Madonna songs actually but I wouldn't consider myself a fan of her.
 
mjprince1976 said:
MAQ: I am sure MJ has sold more than that, my sources, say that MJ sold 15 million copies of Off The wall, at least 55 million of Thriller and 30 Million each of Bad and Dangerous, 10 million of History and 3 million each of Invincible, Michael, King of Pop, Number 1s and Xscape (Both versions). Add on 20 million or so Jackson5/Jacksons sales and at least 50 million single and we have at least quarter of a billion records. And I consider these global figures very conservative, the number of albums sold is probably a lot more.

Madonna sold huge numbers of her 80s albums (True Blue is her biggest seller, with some 11 million sold) but her post 1992 output with the glittering exception of Greatest Hits Volume 2 and Ray of Light, she has barely gone platinum with each album. From what I read she sold 4 million of the first album, 9 million of Like a Virgin, 11 million of True Blue, 1 million each of Whos that girl and you can dance, 5 million of Like a Prayer, Immaculate Collection (Hitz and new songs) about 15 million and 2 million of Erotica and Bedtime stories. Music, Evita, Confessions I think went platinum with Something to remember (1995 ballads collection). Whereas I doubt Hard Candy, American Life, MDNA and Rebel HearT have not even shipped gold. Overall about 60 million albums and maybe 20 million singles (Only 2 songs went platinum, several went gold) - Madonna had a lot of top 10 and top 40 hits, but you find they rise and drop very quickly, usually in and out in the space of 6 weeks. MDNA had one charting single and Rebel Heart has had 3 flops so far including "Bitch I'm Madonna". The poor quality of these albums is the reason why I am not seeing Madge next year in her first NZ concert. I loved her in the 1980s, repsected her in the 1990s (Erotica is a very good album!) but since 2000, she has been terrible (Although I do like some songs on each album and Confessions is a good album).

Michael is the sales star and probably the biggest selling pop artist of the Post 1980 era (So all you purists who shriek Beatles and Babs). His records still sell boatloads today. Even when Elvis died, his records did not completely sell out like MJ's did. There was a period of a week after his death, where stores ran out of Michael Jackson music and more albums had to be pressed up! Honestly not that I was worried, but I had a lot of friends who were casual MJ fans and they decided to buy at least King of Pop, Number 1s or History as a memento, only to be greeted by signs saying "We are awaiting more albums by Michael Jackson from our suppliers"
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I was talking about the 90s. However, MJ blows Madonna to bits when you compare their album sales in the 80's and the 2000's. Michael had at least 8 million off Invincible by 2010, and Number Ones sold around 9 million. King of Pop was another big seller around 3.5 million worldwide by 2009 and Thriller 25 also probably sold in excess of 3 million. The Essential sold in excess of 5 million and This Is It has sold about 4.1 million certified copies. And keep in mind that Michael sold around 25-30 million catalogue albums in 2009 as well.

Madonna on the other hand has a total of about 30 million worldwide in the 2000s - another notable feat but it pales in comparison to Michael's 50-60 million albums sold worldwide. And she was actually releasing new albums and singles almost every year whereas Michael had released only one new album and that was in the early 2000's.
 
^^Yeah. Although being honest, a good half of those sales came as a result of people buying his records because he died. If you take away the albums that are a result of his death however (so the majority of those catalogue sales + This Is It), they're pretty similar. This isn't to discount MJ's achievements, I'm actually very impressed by his sales numbers in the 2000s, I didn't know King of Pop sold that much!

Not that I really want to defend Madonna, just that's its a hugely significant one-off event that turned the tables drastically in MJ's favour. Had Madonna died instead of MJ, she'd likely have outsold MJ by millions too (not by the same amount I imagine, but thats another question all together).
 
HIStoric said:
^^Yeah. Although being honest, a good half of those sales came as a result of people buying his records because he died. If you take away the albums that are a result of his death however (so the majority of those catalogue sales + This Is It), they're pretty similar. This isn't to discount MJ's achievements, I'm actually very impressed by his sales numbers in the 2000s, I didn't know King of Pop sold that much!

Not that I really want to defend Madonna, just that's its a hugely significant one-off event that turned the tables drastically in MJ's favour. Had Madonna died instead of MJ, she'd likely have outsold MJ by millions too (not by the same amount I imagine, but thats another question all together).
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You are not being fair either, because Madonna was simply more active in the 2000s than MJ. MJ only had one studio album in the 2000s and then we have not yet mentioned all the negative publicity. Madonna always had it easier with the media.
 
HIStoric said:
^^Yeah. Although being honest, a good half of those sales came as a result of people buying his records because he died. If you take away the albums that are a result of his death however (so the majority of those catalogue sales + This Is It), they're pretty similar. This isn't to discount MJ's achievements, I'm actually very impressed by his sales numbers in the 2000s, I didn't know King of Pop sold that much!

Not that I really want to defend Madonna, just that's its a hugely significant one-off event that turned the tables drastically in MJ's favour. Had Madonna died instead of MJ, she'd likely have outsold MJ by millions too (not by the same amount I imagine, but thats another question all together).
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Yes I agree. But what if Michael had released more albums in the 2000s? Madonna had 4 studio albums in the decade whereas Michael had only one album which wasn't even promoted sufficiently. Imo if he had released 3 more Invincibles he would've easily topped Madonna by a very very wide margin. The way This Is It sold out, there was a lot of hype surrounding Michael in the late 2000s so he could have sold a lot more. In fact, he would've been one of the top sellers of the 2000s - not that he isn't that already.
 
respect77 said:
You are not being fair either, because Madonna was simply more active in the 2000s than MJ. MJ only had one studio album in the 2000s and then we have not yet mentioned all the negative publicity. Madonna always had it easier with the media.
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What do you mean I'm not being fair? I made it quite clear that MJ's numbers were very impressive given they were almost all compilations and still sold in the millions each (never mind the fact they were released during arguably the worst time in MJ's career/life). I'm not trying to put down MJ or anything??

I recognise that Madonna was more active so she should theoretically have better sales, I was just pointing out a one-off event that would drastically favour the effected artist and when comparing sales like that for the decade, it's something you absolutely have to take into account.

MAQ said:
Yes I agree. But what if Michael had released more albums in the 2000s? Madonna had 4 studio albums in the decade whereas Michael had only one album which wasn't even promoted sufficiently. Imo if he had released 3 more Invincibles he would've easily topped Madonna by a very very wide margin. The way This Is It sold out, there was a lot of hype surrounding Michael in the late 2000s so he could have sold a lot more. In fact, he would've been one of the top sellers of the 2000s - not that he isn't that already.
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Yeah! I've actually always wondered how well an MJ album would sell if he was still alive released one today - especially in this day and age of illegal downloading as well as streaming services like Spotify. The internet's drastically changed how we consume media but given his popularity with TII and the fact that Xscape sold well for a posthumous album, I imagine he'd do pretty good still. Not 80s/90s levels (that's not fair for any artist these days), but certainly good for these days.
 
HIStoric said:
What do you mean I'm not being fair? I made it quite clear that MJ's numbers were very impressive given they were almost all compilations and still sold in the millions each (never mind the fact they were released during arguably the worst time in MJ's career/life). I'm not trying to put down MJ or anything??

I recognise that Madonna was more active so she should theoretically have better sales, I was just pointing out a one-off event that would drastically favour the effected artist and when comparing sales like that for the decade, it's something you absolutely have to take into account.



Yeah! I've actually always wondered how well an MJ album would sell if he was still alive released one today - especially in this day and age of illegal downloading as well as streaming services like Spotify. The internet's drastically changed how we consume media but given his popularity with TII and the fact that Xscape sold well for a posthumous album, I imagine he'd do pretty good still. Not 80s/90s levels (that's not fair for any artist these days), but certainly good for these days.
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Lol illegal copies have always been an issue for far reaching megastars. I hear a lot of stories from many people who purchased Bad and Dangerous saying that it was the "cool" thing to do back in the day. The things which were common in all of these stories were that they had purchased pirated copies. So even though Michael's albums sold much more than the certified copies or even the estimations, Michael never got any documented credit for it.

India was an even bigger market for him and he sold a million certified albums there - imagine the piracy because almost every person in India knows and/or has listened to MJ.

Plus, due to social media, artists can defend themselves much more easily and to a larger audience. It would've suited Michael I think. Moreover, a lot of things are more socially accepted now - androgyny, vitiligo treatments - which were taboo and generally unacceptable back then. So I think, the new generations would've appreciated and accepted Michael more.

Regarding his relevancy - that would've been up to him. If he continued the formula of setting trends as he did in the 90s and 80s, he would've been selling a lot of albums, more than Invincible I think.
 
^^Yeah it's definitely always been an issue but it has been drastically magnified by the internet. If I wanted to, I could go to Pirate Bay, download Lana Del Rey's new album, get a glass of Coke and return to have the full album in super high quality ready to go in that time. No need to find a pirate seller, no need for them to find blank physical media to record it onto, no need to spend a single cent on it, no need to even get out of my pajamas! I think that's a main reason it's so rampant actually; it's very quick and easy (nevermind free to them). That's why I think services like Spotify/Netflix have really taken off, in fact I know many people who are using Spotify as their main source of music now because it's so quick, easy, great quality and cheap/free. I also know there are good number of people who use YouTube as their source of music as well (see here). CDs/iTunes copies still sell but their numbers are falling whereas the amount of streams is very much increasing, vinyls are making a great comeback though. Think I went a bit off-topic there haha whoops.

Anyways yeah the social media thing! Imagine if Michael Jackson had maintained his own Twitter or something! God that would be so fascinating if he actually tweeted!! (though given how much he went on about having little privacy, I can't imagine him personally using one). I think if Michael's career happened the exact same way except 20 years later and he revealed he had vitiligo in 2013, I can definitely imagine a lot more acceptance. The fact society tends to be more tolerable today aside, it's just that with the internet it would be so easy to google and see if he was telling the truth (because I'm sure many people wrongly thought he was bullshitting), as well find out more about vitiligo on Wikipedia or something.
 
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HIStoric said:
^^Yeah it's definitely always been an issue but it has been drastically magnified by the internet. If I wanted to, I could go to Pirate Bay, download Lana Del Rey's new album, get a glass of Coke and return to have the full album in super high quality ready to go in that time. No need to find a pirate seller, no need for them to find blank physical media to record it onto, no need to spend a single cent on it, no need to even get out of my pajamas! I think that's a main reason it's so rampant actually; it's very quick and easy (nevermind free to them). That's why I think services like Spotify/Netflix have really taken off, in fact I know many people who are using Spotify as their main source of music now because it's so quick, easy, great quality and cheap/free. I also know there are good number of people who use YouTube as their source of music as well (see here). CDs/iTunes copies still sell but their numbers are falling whereas the amount of streams is very much increasing, vinyls are making a great comeback though. Think I went a bit off-topic there haha whoops.
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While I am not denying illegal downloads and streaming affect record sales, but it's a bit more complicated than that. You say illegal downloading is easy now, but the fact is that legal downloading is just as easy. In actuality for me in a small Eastern European country it's is easier now to buy albums and especially singles legally than it has been back in the 80s or 90s. In my country record stores did not even sell singles because there was just no demand. So back then no one here bought singles. We just recorded the songs we liked from the radio, or copied each other's tapes. And the black market was blooming. There have been a number of albums that I could not find in legal record stores but I could buy on the black market. I think my first ever legal purchase of an MJ album was my HIStory casette tape. Before that I had Bad copied from someone else and I bought Dangerous on the black market. We did not think it was wrong back then simply because that was the norm here. Of course, later I became more conscious about it and I realized that to support Michael as an artist I will have to buy his material legally.

Now, if I like a song I just go to iTunes and buy it in 2 minutes for 0.99 cents or 0.69 cents. That makes it a LOT easier and cheaper than back then where stores did not keep many singles here or if you wanted something specific you had to order and wait for it to arrive for weeks. And the price was a LOT higher of course. That's why I think today singles are actually selling better than back then.

It's albums that suffer more from the current structure - not last because of people's ability to buy single songs off an album rather than having to buy a full album for two or three songs they like. But there are still big sellers of course, and the digital age doesn't only have negative effects on sales. Like I said in certain countries it makes legal ways of buying music actually more accessible and also cheaper than it was before.
 
^^Absolutely, I've had times where I've bought a song just because it's been convenient to do so. I also think you're pretty right about the singles today, it's why I never compare the sales of recent singles with those from, say, the 1970s. Although I don't get why some artists refuse to put their albums up on iTunes for the single reason of individual song purchasing - there is an option to restrict the sales to album only.

Unfortunately, in combination with the ease of it, a lot of illegal downloading comes down to the fact that the people don't want to spend their money (either they don't have the money in the first place, they can't spend their money on it or they don't wish to spend the money).
 
respect77 said:
While I am not denying illegal downloads and streaming affect record sales, but it's a bit more complicated than that. You say illegal downloading is easy now, but the fact is that legal downloading is just as easy. In actuality for me in a small Eastern European country it's is easier now to buy albums and especially singles legally than it has been back in the 80s or 90s. In my country record stores did not even sell singles because there was just no demand. So back then no one here bought singles. We just recorded the songs we liked from the radio, or copied each other's tapes. And the black market was blooming. There have been a number of albums that I could not find in legal record stores but I could buy on the black market. I think my first ever legal purchase of an MJ album was my HIStory casette tape. Before that I had Bad copied from someone else and I bought Dangerous on the black market. We did not think it was wrong back then simply because that was the norm here. Of course, later I became more conscious about it and I realized that to support Michael as an artist I will have to buy his material legally.

Now, if I like a song I just go to iTunes and buy it in 2 minutes for 0.99 cents or 0.69 cents. That makes it a LOT easier and cheaper than back then where stores did not keep many singles here or if you wanted something specific you had to order and wait for it to arrive for weeks. And the price was a LOT higher of course. That's why I think today singles are actually selling better than back then.

It's albums that suffer more from the current structure - not last because of people's ability to buy single songs off an album rather than having to buy a full album for two or three songs they like. But there are still big sellers of course, and the digital age doesn't only have negative effects on sales. Like I said in certain countries it makes legal ways of buying music actually more accessible and also cheaper than it was before.
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This is correct. Legal downloading and buying has become more popular here as well. And digital sales are much more in number when compared to physical sales. Katy Perry's sold many 5 million+ songs digitally - huge numbers but the songs aren't as groundbreaking-ly famous as Billie Jean or Black or White which sold less than 10 million physical singles.
 
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