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The Michael Jackson Chart Watch

Hurley509 said:
Yeah, it's good but is it Off The Wall or Thriller good? No. Let's face it, Michael's brothers were all tag alongs. None of them had even 1/10th of the talent Michael had. They had some nice songs together but there's a clear reason why Michael's career exploded and Jermaines went nowhere.
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But that’s not the point I’m trying to make. Straight after coming from a blockbuster success Triumph’s success was quite meek, even a widely critically praised triumph tour didn’t carry the album much further.

Take Lovely One it was a good choice as first single, it continued in the party mould of Off the Wall, it features Michael on lead, it is catchy and danceable yet as a first single for a high calibre new album a top 10 really is a must and it didn’t make it, then we had Heartbreak Hotel which is a complete 100% MJ song in all but name and it failed to reach the top 20. Give that song a spot on Thriller and it is top 5.

Look a bit further to Victory, that album got a huge boost by the Thriller success but Triumph which features Michael’s vocals on all but one song did not. So this means it was only since thriller that anything with MJ’s involvement turned into a commercial success. This is the point where he got recognized as the mega star that he was. Now imagine Victory had as much Michael vocals as Triumph had… it would have been a diamond seller. Most likely….

So I can only conclude people were not exactly aware that MJ was the lead singer of the Jacksons. Heck maybe many of them were even still confused who the Jacksons were after the name change.

I am convinced if you go on the streets right now and ask random people who the lead singer of the Jacksons is, many of them would not know it.
 






kx

@kxthrills

Every singles from Thriller have now surpassed 100M streams on Spotify
Billie Jean: 1,421,852,6722.
Beat It: 909,607,2203.
Thriller: 493,546,9714.
P.Y.T: 339,141,0825.
Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’: 161,085,0286.
Human Nature: 156,733,8187.
The Girl Is Mine: 100,031,932
 
filmandmusic said:
Promo surely plays a part but did OTW receive lots of promo then? Genuine question…
As for his voice in 1980, was it that well known? We all know everything kickstarted in 1983 then even the Pope would have known MJ’s voice, not so sure about 1980.
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It got enough airplay to get 4 top 10 hits, two number 1s.


And take your picks on commercials.


In 1980 MJ was the biggest black artist in the world. In 1984 he was the biggest period. But I will concede, Victory was the biggest album the Jacksons put out. Peaked at number 4. Best numbers for sure. 2300 Jackson Street barely made top 60. Triumph still got one point over Destiny but, you gotta understand, "black music" was still more niche than it is now. Waiting for Duran Duran to appear now and tell me over 40 examples of how I'm wrong of course...
 
filmandmusic said:
I am convinced if you go on the streets right now and ask random people who the lead singer of the Jacksons is, many of them would not know it.
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You are definitely capping with this one now

Everybody knows and even if they didn't they'll say Michael anyway. There's no way
 
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It would be interesting to know the answer to "Which band did Michael sing in before his solo career?" I think few will answer The Jacksons.
Just an idea.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
In 1980 MJ was the biggest black artist in the world. In 1984 he was the biggest period. But I will concede, Victory was the biggest album the Jacksons put out. Peaked at number 4. Best numbers for sure. 2300 Jackson Street barely made top 60. Triumph still got one point over Destiny but, you gotta understand, "black music" was still more niche than it is now. Waiting for Duran Duran to appear now and tell me over 40 examples of how I'm wrong of course...
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Was he bigger than Stevie Wonder in 1980?

Regardless, I am sure that MJ was a big star after the release of Off The Wall in 1980. But I would say that he only became a household name after the release of Thriller and the debut of moonwalk.
 
Nite Line said:
Was he bigger than Stevie Wonder in 1980?

Regardless, I am sure that MJ was a big star after the release of Off The Wall in 1980. But I would say that he only became a household name after the release of Thriller and the debut of moonwalk.
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OTW was the 3rd biggest selling album of 1980 in the US (and UK, also, I think). Pretty sure it was the biggest selling album by a Black artist for that year. That said, was Michael bigger than Stevie in influence or cultural impact? I would say, no. Master Blaster or even Happy Birthday made more impact than the OTW singles, imo. Michael had definitely arrived as a solo artist, no question. People knew who he was. They knew his voice. But bigger than Stevie at that particular moment? I really don't think he was.

BJ, Motown 25 and Beat It is where it all started to change. At least, that's how I remember it.
 
hope said:
It would be interesting to know the answer to "Which band did Michael sing in before his solo career?" I think few will answer The Jacksons.
Just an idea.
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Yes, because ‘The Jacksons’ would be an incorrect answer. Remember that he released his solo debut in 1972.
 
filmandmusic said:
That’s just nitpicking considering 80% of his fans don’t recognize his solo Motown albums. This is not a fact but i’m sure it is damn close
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Nitpicking? With four albums and a best of-compilation, I really don’t think so. But even if you were to completely ignore his solo Motown output, ‘The Jacksons’ would still be an incorrect answer. When Triumph (1980) was released, he had already released Off the Wall (1979). Thus, the only valid answer to the question “Which band did Michael sing in before his solo career?” (emphasis added), is The Jackson Five.
 
Agonum said:
Nitpicking? With four albums and a best of-compilation, I really don’t think so. But even if you were to completely ignore his solo Motown output, ‘The Jacksons’ would still be an incorrect answer. When Triumph (1980) was released, he had already released Off the Wall (1979). Thus, the only valid answer to the question “Which band did Michael sing in before his solo career?” (emphasis added), is The Jackson Five.
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I can't argue that ;)
 
the Jacksons-spotify. 24/06/2023

BIOTB : 263,692,164
CYFI-7V : 75,014,746
SYB-7V: 68,521,679
TPH : 36,861,238
CYFI : 28,166,605
TORT: 26,023,342
SYB : 17,719,286
EY : 15,990,736
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
At that point I'd say yes.
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Here we are again, Mr JT. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. :)

Respectfully, of course!

Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Songs in the Keys of Life was huge but that was the start of Stevie's slightly lesser 80s period.
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Yes, it was the start of Stevie's 'slightly lesser' '80's period. But that is a separate thing, imo, from the album itself. Just for Master Blaster alone, Songs/Key/Life was huge. Like you said, the whole album was huge. Politically SO important. For the UK, at that moment, I still say Stevie was bigger and way more important that Michael. Stevie never had the pandemonium that Michael had but there are many ways to measure a person's influence and importance. He had been our voice all through the '70's - arguably more important than Marvin although that's a closer competition than Stevie / Michael.

Master Blaster only managed No.2 in the UK charts but, then again, it only made it to No.5 in the Billboard Hot 100. I'm not forgetting that it was at No.1 on the R&B chart for 7 weeks.

7 weeks!! 😲 🥳 🤸‍♀️

I'm standing up for my man!

Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Hotter than July had nothing on Off The Wall.
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Sales wise it couldn't compete with OTW. That's as far as I can go on this point.

Mister_Jay_Tee said:

And here you can already see the Pandemonium.
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Yep, great footage, love it. But I'm standing by my man! Fan hysteria isn't everything. Not for me, anyway.

1980? Stevie all the way.

"They couldn't touch us even if they tried"

(oh god, now I've made myself cry)
 
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