Okay I'm curious...suppose for a moment the 93 child sex thingy didn't happen. Where would that have put Michael? Well he was on a tour, and in 94, by all accounts was planning to bring the tour to the US. Would that have meant more singles off Dangerous? Perhaps "Keep The Faith?"

I doubt with Michael on tour, sony would have backed out on promoting Dangerous. So I'm not exactly sure what the numbers were of Dangerous, but I know they were good.

I've heard fans in the past (if memory serves me) say that they thought Dangerous could have outsold Thriller, given different circumstances. Is this just MJ fan nonsense? or is there truth to it?

If so... I'm not going there...
[Edited 1/21/06 9:14am]

Thriller continues to outsell Dangerous though.

I remember 1984 and I've never seen a popstar at such a height since.

Dangerous was dope, but there's so many other factors besides a 1993 scandal that would never have matched Thriller's success.

yes it was actually.

thanks to the concert in 1992
and the interview in 1993 + superbowl performance people were finally getting him
sells were picking up fast.

then.....we all kno whut happened.
it was on its way to outsell thriller, no doubt bout dat.

aight now..if you can believe that then i should be allowed to believe that wendy and lisa were on their way to being the biggest female act ever.

until, well...until i woke up!!

Damn Dangerous is so damn good

If it was to outsell Thriller, it should have outsold thriller bcuz of the extra media attention and exposure he got for the child molestation stuff. So NO, don't think it was on it's way to outsell thriller.

CinisterCee said:

Thriller has had more longevity, yo.

Thriller is more fun to listen to...

ufoclub said:

I find myself skipping "BEat It" and "Billie Jean"

paisleypark4 said:

Really??

Those two grooves are the reason to own the album...



Have you ever heard the extended version of 'Billie Jean'??

funkpill said:

I have, and the demo version (long and short demo versions) and the acapella version, all are amazing. "Billie Jean" is one of Michael's finest moments as a recording artist, style wise, and songwriting wise.

I skip "Beat It" too.

CinisterCee said:

Co-Sign
I have to be in a certain 80's flashback mood to want to hear that song.

All though, I really enjoy the video.

I like Dangerous, but let's be real. Yes, it might have sold more given a 94 US tour and no pedophilia charges, but I highly doubt it would have surpassed Thriller.

newskin69 said:

You are probably right...but then the question remains..how much more would it have sold? Still under "Thriller" probably - but it'd be interesting to see what would have happened. If Michael's appearance on Oprah impacted sales the way it did, imagine what a US tour would have done!

Pretty sad to think Michael's last US tour was in 1980 something

jasonstar said:

yup..

It's his funk masterpiece...

As far as I know Dangerous and Bad outsells Thrilles outside of USA

Dangerous had like 8 or 9 singles.

GangstaFam said:

I know and it probably would have had more, had the child abuse stuff not happened.

On a side note..Michael planned to release tons of singles off Invincible.

jasonstar said:

But did his record label really stop promoting the album? I mean, the promotion went on for a solid 2 years.

.
[Edited 1/21/06 12:37pm]

I think there was a good chance, during the dangerous era he was bigger then ever. So i think 40 + was possible, not over 50 but close.....right now its 30 million.

Was dangerous selling faster then thriller?

Diddy said:

I believe it was at one point.

GangstaFam said:

They called it quits on Invincible promotion stuff when Michael told them Invincible was going to be his last album for Sony, and he planned to take his 9-11 "What More Can I Give" to another label.

As for Dangerous, Sony quit promoting it once the child abuse stuff happened, and Michael called his tour quits due to painkillers. However, as a last effort thing, they released the music videos on VHS. The DVD didn't come till years later after the album's promotion had long been over.

CinisterCee said:

remember when you couldnt even pick up the news paper (THE DAILY NEWSPAPER) without a story about michael...It was mass hysteria back then..

CinisterCee said:

baby be mine..wanna be startin something...billie jean , human nature,Pyt, and lady in my life are THE JAMS !!!!!

prettymansson said:

well I wasn't reading the newspaper yet but yeah MJ was ubiquitous.

I don't know wtf I did above...

Dangerous came out almost 2 years before the child abuse allegations. Nirvana was changing the musical landscape and had taken the wind out of Dangerous sales. Part of the problem for Michael has been his obsession with sales which means he Disney-fied his music to be as un-Dangerous as possible. It's a too long blah album, where his Jesus complex is beginning to run free.

mynameisnotsusan said:

Good points...