It’s just the Apple Music app. Lots of iPhone users have it. I did a free trial just so I could follow Michael on the charts there. I know, I’m a freak lol. Anyway, it’s just an alternative to Spotify and other streaming apps
Well from what I can tell, Spotify doesn’t have genre charts. So on Apple I’m looking at the Pop charts, specifically. I did see on Spotify that it was charting on the viral songs, which was cool. I think I may have posted about that somewhere above.
www.riaa.com
At the moment, Billie Jean is 5X Platinum and Thriller is 6X Platinum. But if Rock With You & Don't Stop Til You Get Enough are now 5X Platinum, then, yes, Billie Jean and Thriller should be diamond or close to it.
Me too
This is wonderful!
As far as I know in the UK, albums and songs released post 1994 are automatically certified when they reach the threshold. But for "older" albums like Dangerous, the record labels probably have to ask for the updated certification.
oh interesting! it does feel like something that just be automatically done. But I guess that would be a pretty overwhelming ask with all the albums out there, so I suppose it makes sense that the estate/record label would have to pursue that.
Platinum for albums in the UK is 300,000 and not a million. I think it must have sold units of 300,000 since 1994.
Has Off The Wall been certified platinum in the UK?
Sorry, I completely forgot about Off The Wall.
Did some more Spotify research
MJ is the 69th most streamed artist in the history of Spotify closing in on 10 billion streams. Apparently there are 329 MJ tracks available on Spotify.
He has 1 song of over a billion streams, 21 songs of over 100 million streams, 91 songs of over 10 million streams and 233 songs of over 1 million streams.
Queen, The Beatles, Linkin Park, Eminem and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are all above MJ in the ranking. I named these as they were also recording when MJ was still recording. The rest of the 100 is made up of artists post Invincible. It goes to show how fast and brutal the musical landscape changes. You’d be very lucky if you stay relevant for even a few years…
Michael’s top streaming albums top 6 is:
nr 1 thriller 25 with almost 2 million streams per day. Nr 137 in the overall chart of most streamed albums
nr 2 bad 25 with just over 1 million streams a day. Nr 340 overall chart
nr 3 off the wall just over 500 000 streams a day. Nr 989 overall chart
nr 4 dangerous with over 400 000 streams a day. Nr 1146 overall chart
nr 5 Diana Ross presents the J5 over 300 000 streams a day. Nr 1180 overall chart
nr 6 xscape with over 200 000 streams a day. Nr 1487 overall chart
Furthermore MJ is the nr 43 most followed artist on spotify with 23 million plus followers. Queen is at nr 13 ( biopic impact), beatles at nr 44. Michael has adaily gain of 11000 + followers, this rate puts him at nr 37 for fastest growing artists on Spotify. Queen is at nr 22 in this chart with 19000 new fans a day.
Interesting note Elvis Presley is at nr 86 with about 4000 gains a day. Is this an early biopic effect?
All of these numbers will be hugely interesting to follow in the coming years starting with thriller 40. At least I find it interesting
I think this is a really important point. This year I watched the Billboards solely for the Maxwell tribute to MJ and what was interesting is they added a category of awards for artists whose songs charted because they blew up on TikTok. Largely unsigned artists. When I look at top streaming, especially, it's very obvious that popularity comes and goes and most of the people on there won't be relevant in a couple months or years. To put it in perspective, I love to check out the Billboard Hot 100 artists (MJ has been in there every time I have looked this year, which is typically weekly). But Beyonce has barely ever been on it, if at all. Why? She hasn't released anything in awhile. However, she's due to release something next month, so I fully expect her streaming to explode.
He also had a biopic come out a couple years ago! It was successful and nominated for some awards (may have won some, I have no idea). I got really into Elton John in middle/high school because of "Elton John" night on American Idol lol. You never know where these people's music is being featured for the youth to enjoy lol.
That’s odd that Beyonce dropped off, I don’t follow her musical career at all but I figured she was one to stay relevant of the more recent crop of top stars.I think this is a really important point. This year I watched the Billboards solely for the Maxwell tribute to MJ and what was interesting is they added a category of awards for artists whose songs charted because they blew up on TikTok. Largely unsigned artists. When I look at top streaming, especially, it's very obvious that popularity comes and goes and most of the people on there won't be relevant in a couple months or years. To put it in perspective, I love to check out the Billboard Hot 100 artists (MJ has been in there every time I have looked this year, which is typically weekly). But Beyonce has barely ever been on it, if at all. Why? She hasn't released anything in awhile. However, she's due to release something next month, so I fully expect her streaming to explode.
I guess my point in saying that MJ is impressive is that he is gone and nothing has been released in YEARS and yet he is still consistently charting and showing up streaming a ton, while contemporary powerhouses fall off the charts when they don't regularly release stuff. I think that's impressive!
He also had a biopic come out a couple years ago! It was successful and nominated for some awards (may have won some, I have no idea). I got really into Elton John in middle/high school because of "Elton John" night on American Idol lol. You never know where these people's music is being featured for the youth to enjoy lol.
As for The Beatles, they also have a hugely popular documentary series out right now, either on Hulu or Disney+, I don't remember. Plus, they are The Beatles. I am not actually a huge fan of them, but their legacy has never faced any challenge that I'm aware of.
I wouldn't worry about what album is keeping him relevant right now. Thriller will always be his biggest album, and the avenue to new fans. It's not a bad thing, really. The only album I'm really sad for is HIStory because it never shows up in any charts and it's so good.
If you want to feel better, or encouraged, about Michael's streaming, think about all of the MAJOR artists that don't appear on any of these lists. Artists with huge legacies, icon status, legend status. No where on those lists. Michael always is though. Though I'll never understand why he isn't permanently a top 20 fixture, I also wasn't even a fan until this year when I was re-exposed to him via random videos on Facebook, and now I'm a borderline psycho fan so...
