Instead of thriller?
Discuss

First!

I don’t think it would have made any difference whatsoever. Don’t forget Purple Rain was no small success, musically and theatrically. RollingStone® magazine even headlined one of their issues saying “Why are Prince & Bruce Springsteen Hotter than Michael Jackson?”.

Micheal’s success and Prince’s success means very little outside of the customary nod to such success in today’s publications just before the journalist rips into a scathing critique, or details some sad and disturbing(and often false) diatribe of some affair of theirs. The music world has a memory of about 5 to 7 years, unless you’re a hip hop artist, at which point you can count on 3 to 5 years; so, once your time is up, what difference does it make? Madonna and Michael Jackson still have to create a buzz with every album. If not for their promotional machines pushing their crappy albums, neither would be as successful as they are. Even iff Prince had once sold the most albums of all time, with his almost complete dismissal of promoting his material, I seriously doubt he’d be anymore successful than he is today.

Sad to say, even with MJ’s over-the-top P&R, If you walk up to anybody on the street and ask them if they’d be excited about the upcoming MJ album you’d get the following reactions:

1) Below 30 years of age: I don’t care. Doesn’t he molest little boys?
2) Above 30 years of age: ew. Doesn’t he molest little boys?
3) The MJ fan: blah, blah, blah, I’d lick his ass, blah, blah, blah
[Edited 6/13/06 6:43am]

pinkgirl93 said:

No.
Music-lovers are always interested in a NEW Michael Jackson album.

BT11 said:

pnik girl didn't say music lovers, she said "anybody on the street", most ppl are not serious music fans, but you need those people to buy your album if you wanna have the biggest selling album in the world.

Look at all the good it did MJ.
Having the biggest selling album in the world didn't stop him from carving up his face, bleaching his skin, sleeping with little boys and generally screwing up his life.
The man with the biggest selling album in the world has become the world's best known punch line. He can't even visit an orphanage without it turning into a sick, sad joke.
I guess that what happens when you base your career solely on numbers and nothing else. Having the most of something doesn't necessarily make you a good or decent or well-adjusted human being.
MJ proves that in spades.

Good grief

I Like Prince.

I laugh at the hate. Selling the the biggest selling album of all time didnt do any of the things u stated what it did do was launch mj as a bonafide legend, he took respect for that. You can say all the negatives u want, it wont stop the fact that he is a legend(will continue to be one,ppl mention that hes a joke yet he still manages to sell in the states, he still gets utmost respect from artist it leaves me confused)It wont stop the fact that he acheived something that no other artist could do. It also wont stop the fact that thriller still sells about a mill a year(in the us alone). So plz save it

If Prince had the biggest selling album in the world, it would forever validate him as the greatest pop music artist of all time, and it would validate us as the best fans of all time in worship of our idol.

Oh, if only it were true

What do you mean 'if'?
I heard that Prince does have a copy of Thriller.

He would be very pleased, but probably wouldn't care too much if the next ones lost a few sales. However he might have also become a recluse, bought a menagerie of animals, have heaps of Plastic surgery and end up looking like a marionette doll, and start sleeping with little boys (is that what u r expecting me to say?????)
No!!!!!
Prince if he had sold 50,000,000 copies of album, would go back into the studio and make more music and think wow. Also if you actually think about it, Prince has sold more cumulative albums than Bad and Thriller put together. So hes already tasted the mega platinum success. Also I believe Purple Rain must still be in the Top 10 of biggest selling albums, I thinks its newest total is just under 20,000,000 copies which puts it anywhere between 7th and 12th and he must be in the Top 10 with only the Beatles, MJ, Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand surpassing him maybe.

Yeah it is pretty unlikely that any album will beat thriller
I'm just saying, don't really care either way

mjfanatic said:

You cared enough to start a topic about it.

BT11 said:

That's not true. I love music and MJ music is about middle-of-the-road for me. Not great, but not bad. Nothing I would go out of my way to listen to.

But I never said music lovers. I said "the average person on the street".

Selling that many albums ruined MJ for life. He's been trying to duplicate
that same feat ever since. It has cost him loads of money in studio time &
record producers trying to capture that formula once again...I still don't think he's figured it out yet. It's not happening again. He should have been gracious enough to accept the reward that was bestowed to him and moved on and lived a happy, prosperous life. Instead, his life is this mess of a punchline
with the worst part being that, being in that state of mind, he brought kids into his life.

Everyone loves a top selling album...but at what cost?

Yes, all data seems to indicate that "Purple Rain" is above 19 million worldwide but not yet above the 20 million global sales.

This sales are still not enough to put this album on the upper places of the all time best sellers worldwide.
For the people interested in this kind of stuff i give below a very quick overview of the sales champions in the history of recorded music (according to available data):

Worldwide sales above 50 million (1 album)

Thriller, Michael Jackson ('82)

Worldwide sales above/around 40 million (4 albums)

The Dark Side Of The Moon, Pink Floyd ('73)
Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, The Eagles ('76)
Saturday Night Fever, Soundtrack ('77)
Back In Black, AC/DC ('80)

Worldwide sales above/around 30 million (10 albums)

Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin ('71)
Rumours, Fleetwood Mac ('77)
Bat Out Of Hell, Meat Loaf ('77)
Dangerous, Michael Jackson ('91)
The Bodyguard, Soundtrack ('92)
Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette ('95)
Falling Into You, Celine Dion ('96)
Come On Over, Shania Twain ('97)
Let's Talk About Love, Celine Dion ('97)
1, The Beatles ('00)

Worldwide sales above/around 25 million (9 albums)

Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles ('67)
Abbey Road, The Beatles ('69)
Grease, Soundtrack ('78)
The Wall, Pink Floyd ('79)
Brothers In Arms, Dire Straits ('85)
Bad, Michael Jackson ('87)
Gold - Greatest Hits, ABBA ('92)
Titanic, Soundtrack ('97)
Supernatural, Santana ('99)

Worldwide sales above/around/close-to 20 million (27 albums)

The Beatles (White Album), The Beatles ('68)
Tapestry, Carole King ('71)
Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits, Simon & Garfunkel ('72)
The Beatles 1962-1966, The Beatles ('73)
The Beatles 1967-1970, The Beatles ('73)
Greatest Hits, Elton John ('74)
Hotel California, The Eagles ('76)
Greatest Hits 1, Queen ('81/'92)
Born In The USA, Bruce Springsteen ('84)
Legend, Bob Marley & The Wailers ('84)
Like A Virgin, Madonna ('84)
Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston ('85)
No Jacket Required, Phil Collins ('85)
True Blue, Madonna ('86)
Slippery When Wet, Bon Jovi ('86)
The Joshua Tree, U2 ('87)
Appetite For Destruction, Guns'n'Roses ('87)
Whitney, Whitney Houston ('87)
Dirty Dancing, Soundtrack ('87)
Metallica, Metallica ('91)
The Immaculate Collection, Madonna ('91)
Music Box, Mariah Carey ('93)
The Sign/Happy Nation, Ace Of Base ('93)
Daydream, Mariah Carey ('95)
Spice, Spice Girls ('96)
...Baby One More Time, Britney Spears ('99)
Millenium, Backstreet Boys ('01)
Come Away With Me, Norah Jones ('02)

So, at least 52 (fifty-two) albums are presently above "Purple Rain" regarding worldwide sales...
[Edited 6/15/06 0:20am]

Edu said:

Some of these albums, I seriously dispute the sales, The Shitney 1's are around only 10 million and Norah Jones and Alanis I thought were only around 13 million each. Where did you get these figures from. I read somewhere too that Bad sold only 9 million and Dangerous even less.

Hi Tane1976

About the Whitney Houston, Alanis,Norah and Jackson albums i shall give a bit more detailed overview by giving sales in some of the world's biggest markets:

"Whitney Houston"

U.S.A. = 13 million by 1999 (1 million since 1991)
Canada = 1 million by 1987
U.K. = 1.2 million by 1989
Japan = 560,000
Germany = 500,000 by 1986

"Whitney"

U.S.A. = 9 million by 1995 (1 million since 1991)
Canada = 700,000 by 1988
U.K. = 1.8 million by 1988
Japan = 410,000
Germany = 500,000 by 1987

"Jagged Little Pill"

U.S.A. = 16 million by 1998 (with 900,000 sales since 2000)
U.K. = 3 million by 2002
Canada = 2 million by 1996
Germany = 1 million by 1995
Australia = 980,000 by 1998

"Come Away With Me"

U.S.A. = 10 million by 2005
U.K. = 2.1 million by 2004
France = 1 million by 2003
Canada = 800,000 by 2004
Australia = 630,000 by 2004
Germany = 500,000 by 2004
Japan = 300,000

"Bad"

U.S.A. = 8 million by 1994 (1.9 million since 1990 till present)
U.K. = 4.4 million (including 240,000 since 2000)
Germany = 2 million by 1995
Canada = 700,000 by 1988
Japan = 600,000

tane1976 said:

It's worldwide!!! Those are U.S figures you're quoting..

shygirl said:

shygirl, Don't you mean the MEDIA and OTHERS base Michael's career solely on numbers and NOTHING else? It is not Michael who brings up numbers it is other people-media,non-fans,music industry types,bashers,etc. Why blame him for what others do. The hypocrisy that surrounds this man is pitiful. If HE doesn't sell "Thriller" numbers, everybody and their mama calls it a failure. EVERY studio album of new material that he has released has sold MILLIONS, yet the hypocrites call it a failure. When other artists do one-third of what he does, no one focuses on the numbers. Therefore, it is not Michael's fault that everyone else focuses on "Thriller" AS IF that is the only thing that he has done. Michael became a superstar as the lead singer of J5. He became a mega-star with Thriller. He remains a mega-star today because of his longevity,contributions to music, and his influence and impact in music history.As you say, having the most of something doesn't necessarily make you a good or well-adjusted person. However, being a failure and having less or selling less does not make you a good or well-adjusted person either. With the scrutiny that MJ has gone through since a child, I think that he has done better than most would in his situation. Most people with even a semblance of what he goes through on a daily basis would have given up by now or committed suicide. All you have to do is look at those cases of people who have had far,far less success and pressure who have turned to drugs, given up or killed themselves.Let's give the man credit for being as strong as he is and surviving the constant bull$%^^& that is thrown at him on a continually basis. I don't know of ANYONE who has gone through the things that he has over the years and is still standing tall.

skyecute said:

I agree with you to a certain extent. The fact is everyone after Thriller expected MJ to repeat the feat with subsequent albums, and when it didn't happen they called those albums a "failure", heaping more pressure on MJ to repeat the feat. However, MJ himself expected the same thing. MJ should have realized what happen was unique and was never going to be repeated and moved on and evolved as an artist and human being. The difference with MJ and probably someone like Prince is that, has someone else has said, would have said "Wow" and gone on to the next project instead of thinking he needs to validate himself by repeating the success and becoming the biggest mystery/joke to keep him in the headlines.

The sad thing is MJ was around 15 yrs before Thriller. OTW before Thriller was a better album. I still believe the albums he did with The Jacksons especially Truimph and Destiny do not get enough credit, he didn't need to turn himself into something he was not to be a "somebody" in music. Even if he had never gone onto solo success, he had already reached great heights of success with the J5. I still don't know any child singer or even many adul singers who can minute make you wannna dance your ass off and the next minute sound so deep and soulful and make you cry your eyes out.. and that's the MJ that many peeps like to remember as opposed to the MJ that has the "best selling album ever" but at the same time whose life has turnt into a joke...