I didn't wanna say anything and be a Debbie Downer but come on now...

Everyone knows the Beatles didn't sell a billion and neither did Elvis so why would Michael do the same thing? He might've surpassed Elvis worldwide and may be closing in on the Beatles or hell he might've topped the Beatles by now but one billion?

The stats all together would suggest that, together, Elvis, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson have had their records bought by 3/7ths of the world. That is 43%. And I highly doubt it.

smoothcriminal12 said:

The stats all together would suggest that, together, Elvis, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson have had their records bought by 3/7ths of the world. That is 43%. And I highly doubt it.

Yeah statistically that could never be accurate. Plus Elvis, the Beatles and Michael were popular in different time periods.

Timmy84 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

The stats all together would suggest that, together, Elvis, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson have had their records bought by 3/7ths of the world. That is 43%. And I highly doubt it.

Yeah statistically that could never be accurate. Plus Elvis, the Beatles and Michael were popular in different time periods.

Emancipation89 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

He did NOT sell 1 billion worldwide. That would equate to 1/7th of the world. I highly doubt that.

Hmm, that's only true if everyone bought only one of his albums.

The truth is, average MJ fan would at least have 6 or 7 albums of his. That already narrows it down to 140 million people, not 1/7th of the whole world. Plus some diehard fans would have probably 20 + albums of his. -- Somehow I bought 4 Thriller albums so far...Thriller ALONE. (I bought one, and the CD case cracked, so I bought another one, and when MJ died I bought a couple copies and gave them to my friends who were not very familiar with MJ lol) -

But I'm not saying there's 100 million MJ fans in the world. I guess "billion" sounds like it's just too much. Not that the numbers really matter, at the end...

You're right, I wasn't saying that 1 billion people exactly own one copy, but I was trying to show how astronomical the numbers are.

You do make a good point though, but even then 1 billion is such a large number.

Timmy84 said:

I didn't wanna say anything and be a Debbie Downer but come on now...

Everyone knows the Beatles didn't sell a billion and neither did Elvis so why would Michael do the same thing? He might've surpassed Elvis worldwide and may be closing in on the Beatles or hell he might've topped the Beatles by now but one billion?

No. And I doubt that will happen someday ....
MJ really according to most estimations slightly surpassed Elvis and is the biggest selling solo artist of all time (and I personally think that MJ will remain it forever).
But the Beatles overtake him on the 70-80 million sold records, at least. This is a big gap.
If MJ has recorded and concealed from the public "second Thriller " ..... it is possible that he will be close to the Beatles, but if the quality of unrealized songs are on a par with the songs that are released on the" Michael "...
Paul can not worry ....

I liked the estimates of the expert, he laid all the data and explained each figure (for 2008 data):
Beatles - 410 million records
Elvis - 300 million records
Jackson - 320 million solo records worldwide.

Emancipation89 said:

^^Hmm, that's from 2008? Didn't Michael sell like 50 million records after his death(2009)? I'd love to look at the most current data. (And can I have a link please )

Wow it's truly amazing MJ sold that many records with the least amount of studio albums compared to the other two!

I was thinking the same thing.

It's marketing, even as a fan I'm not going to pretend it's real. I believe it's around 850 to 900 million, max, but that it could reach 1 billion one day. And there are many people who like all three acts so they may own all of their records and are not seperate.

Emancipation89 said:

^^Hmm, that's from 2008? Didn't Michael sell like 50 million records after his death(2009)? I'd love to look at the most current data. (And can I have a link please )

Wow it's truly amazing MJ sold that many records with the least amount of studio albums compared to the other two!

He has sold 35 million records since his death and before October 2011 (according to the certificates).
And what are the links you want? I collect statistical data on various sites, it counts different people. If I see that the information is adequate, then I save only the data itself.
Official data is available for some countries, the rest - counts!
The only time when there were data from an authoritative source - this

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) just released their updated figures (2006).

01. The Beatles 40+ 400,000,000 UK 60s (1962-1970) Rock/Pop Guinness/EMI
02. Michael Jackson 14 350,000,000 US 70s-00s (1979-) Pop/R&B MJ Stats
03. Elvis Presley 150+ 300,000,000 US 50s-70s (1956-1977) Country/Rock
04. Madonna 16 275,000,000 US 80s-00s (1984-) Pop WBR [1]
05. Nana Mouskouri 450 250,000,000 Greece 60s-00s (1959-) Pop [2][3]
06. Cliff Richard 60+ 250,000,000 UK 50s-00s (1959-1969,1977-1979,1986-1999) Rock/Pop [4]
07. The Rolling Stones 54 ~250,000,000 UK 60s-00s (1964-1981) Rock 60.5 million in the US [5]
08. Mariah Carey 14 230,000,000 US 90s-00s (1990-) Pop/R&B
09. Elton John 43 ~220,000,000 UK 70s-00s (1972-1976,1989-1991,1997-) Pop [6]
10. Celine Dion 21 220,000,000 Canada 80s-00s (1990-) Pop Music/Pop Discography
11. Pink Floyd 21 ~210,000,000 UK 60s-00s (1970-1983,1994-1995) Prog Rock 73 Mil US
12. Led Zeppelin 9/12 200,000,000+ UK 60s-70s (1969-1979) Rock/Blues MSNBC
13. Metallica 10 ~200,000,000 US 80's-00's (1991-1997) Hard Rock 57 mil US
14. Julio Iglesias 80 ~200,000,000 Spain 70s-00s (1969-) Latino Pop [7] [8]
15. Queen 22 180,000,000 UK 70s-00s (1975-1995) Rock R&R
16. AC/DC ~180,000,000 Australia/UK 70s-00s (1980-1992) Hard Rock AC/DC
17. Whitney Houston 10 ~180,000,000 US 80s-00s (1985-2000) R&B/Pop Discography
18. ABBA 160,000,000 Sweden 70s-80s (1974-1982) Disco/Pop ABBA discography
19. U2 ~150,000,000 Ireland 80s-00s (1983-) Rock/Pop 50m.US
20. The Jacksons 150,000,000 US 60s-80s (1969-1980) R&B 71m.US
21. Garth Brooks ~145,000,000 US 80s-00s (1989-2001) Country 105m.US
22. Janet Jackson 11 130,000,000 US 80s-00s (1986-) R&B/pop
23. The Eagles ~120,000,000 US 70s-00s (1974-1979) Country/Rock 89 million in US
24. Wei Wei ~120,000,000 China 80s-00s (1986-) Pop [12] [13]
25. The Bee Gees 110,000,000 UK/Australia 60s-00s (1975-1979) Pop/Disco src.1
26. Bon Jovi ~110,000,000 US 80s-00s (1986-2000) Rock/Hard Rock (100m.alb.)
27. R.E.M. ~110,000,000 US 80s-00s (1991-) Rock [(106m.alb.)
28. Kenny Rogers 105,000,000+ US 60s-00s Country/Pop/Rock [15]
29. Black Sabbath 100,000,000+ US 70s-00s Hard Rock/Metal [17]
30. Barbra Streisand 100,000,000+ US 60s-00s popular 70.5 million in US [18]
31. Mireille Mathieu 37 ~100,000,000 France 60s-00s Pop src.
32. Alla Pugacheva 15 ~100,000,000 Russia 70s-00s Rock/Pop *(10m.US) [19]
33. Prince ~100,000,000 US 70s-00s Rock/Pop src.
34. Ricky Nelson ~100,000,000 US 50s-80s Pop/Country/Rock
35. Luciano Pavarotti ~100,000,000 Italy 60s-00s Opera [20] [21]
36. Brenda Lee ~100,000,000 US 50s-60s Pop/Country [22]
37. OmPrakash ~100,000,000 India 90s-00s [23]
38. Illayaraja ~100,000,000 India 70s-00s [24]
39. Johnny Mathis ~100,000,000 UK 60s-00s Rock/Pop [25]
40. Lionel Richie ~100,000,000 US 80s-00s Pop/R&B [26] 21.0 mililion in US [27]

I do not have a link to the source, but information was available on all fan sites: The Beatles, U2, Madonna etc.

http://u2.interference.com/f225/u2-in-the-top-19-of-best-selling-artists-of-all-time-165433.html

http://forum.madonna.com/index.php?showtopic=7177

Okay, believe whatever you want ... one billion, two, three ... does not matter.
Here's a guy who is constantly engaged in sales statistics (a huge fan MJ, btw) got all the numbers that we can.
According to his data for 2010
Jackson sold:
~ 205 million solo albums
~ 115 million solo singles
~ 45 million with J5 albums
~ 45 million with J5 singles
~ 15 million downloads
~ 15 million music videos

total of 440 million records

http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=63110&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

--------------------
of all the information that I collect for several years (not only or even mainly about MJ, I ​​have other favorites, too) to me obvious that MJ solo sales in the range 340 - 360 million records to date.
This is a huge figure actually ..

[Edited 1/16/12 16:53pm]

In my 8 years of posting (as Chuckaducci/Duccichucka), which has seen two

bannings, one lengthy self-exile and thousands of orgers pissed, I think I have

pretty much established that I am not a complete dunce around here.

So, quite unabashedly, my question to you is this: what the fuck is "Human Nature"

about?

I think it's one of Jackson's most poignant vocals ever but I don't know

what the song is about! Does its mysterious and inscrutable nature contribute

something to my enjoyment of this song?

Whose broken down the abstruse lyrics/theme of this song?

duccichucka said:

In my 8 years of posting (as Chuckaducci/Duccichucka), which has seen two

bannings, one lengthy self-exile and thousands of orgers pissed, I think I have

pretty much established that I am not a complete dunce around here.

So, quite unabashedly, my question to you is this: what the fuck is "Human Nature"

about?

I think it's one of Jackson's most poignant vocals ever but I don't know

what the song is about! Does its mysterious and inscrutable nature contribute

something to my enjoyment of this song?

Whose broken down the abstruse lyrics/theme of this song?

I don't think no one knows. Michael didn't even know what the hell it was about. John Bettis wrote the lyrics and as far as I know he hasn't given a story of how that song came about.

mjscarousal said:

You've been going on Tumblr lately, haven't you?

smoothcriminal12 said:

Timmy84 said:

Me too. I don't even know who called for it...

Seriously, we're closing in on three years now and the posts are starting to dry up.

They been I really prefer that we just stick to open threads like I said earlier. I love me some Michael but yall not talking about anything worth while in this thread now so… lol.

babybugz said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Seriously, we're closing in on three years now and the posts are starting to dry up.

They been I really prefer that we just stick to open threads like I said earlier. I love me some Michael but yall not talking about anything worth while in this thread now so… lol.

lol yeah really. And unfortunately he ain't here anymore so it is what it is.

Timmy84 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

The stats all together would suggest that, together, Elvis, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson have had their records bought by 3/7ths of the world. That is 43%. And I highly doubt it.

Yeah statistically that could never be accurate. Plus Elvis, the Beatles and Michael were popular in different time periods.

People making up their own numbers now lol.

babybugz said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Seriously, we're closing in on three years now and the posts are starting to dry up.

They been I really prefer that we just stick to open threads like I said earlier. I love me some Michael but yall not talking about anything worth while in this thread now so… lol.

Right? All I see are a bunch of photos.

babybugz said:

Timmy84 said:

Yeah statistically that could never be accurate. Plus Elvis, the Beatles and Michael were popular in different time periods.

People making up their own numbers now lol.

Timmy84 said:

duccichucka said:

In my 8 years of posting (as Chuckaducci/Duccichucka), which has seen two

bannings, one lengthy self-exile and thousands of orgers pissed, I think I have

pretty much established that I am not a complete dunce around here.

So, quite unabashedly, my question to you is this: what the fuck is "Human Nature"

about?

I think it's one of Jackson's most poignant vocals ever but I don't know

what the song is about! Does its mysterious and inscrutable nature contribute

something to my enjoyment of this song?

Whose broken down the abstruse lyrics/theme of this song?

I don't think no one knows. Michael didn't even know what the hell it was about. John Bettis wrote the lyrics and as far as I know he hasn't given a story of how that song came about.

Before Michael passed away, a couple of friends and I were discussing it. We couldn't make heads or tails of it, but hey, every artist writes a really far out song that sometimes doesn't make complete sense. But it's beautiful anyway, so you listen to it.

I personally thought it was a song about walking through the streets of New York City (if this town is just an apple, then let me take a bite), and being bombarded with paparazzi (electric eyes are everywhere). He meets a girl along the way (see that girl, she knows I'm watching, she likes the way I stare.) and so on..

That's just me though...

duccichucka said:

In my 8 years of posting (as Chuckaducci/Duccichucka), which has seen two

bannings, one lengthy self-exile and thousands of orgers pissed, I think I have

pretty much established that I am not a complete dunce around here.

So, quite unabashedly, my question to you is this: what the fuck is "Human Nature"

about?

I think it's one of Jackson's most poignant vocals ever but I don't know

what the song is about! Does its mysterious and inscrutable nature contribute

something to my enjoyment of this song?

Whose broken down the abstruse lyrics/theme of this song?

Here's my cheesy take on Human Nature...

Looking out
Across the nighttime
The city winks a sleepless eye
Hear her voice
Shake my window
Sweet seducing sighs

Get me out
Into the nighttime
Four walls won't hold me tonight
If this town
Is just an apple
Then let me take a bite

--> In the first verse, when he says "Hear her voice", I always thought that "her" is New York City.

He's in New York city, the city never sleeps, and the lights and the city noise are seducing him.

Reaching out
To touch a stranger
Electric eyes are everywhere

---> he's in NY, and maybe he had an encounter with someone. I always thought "electric eyes" were camera lenses and flashes. So, he's in the city, doing what normal people would do, but paparazzi are everywhere taking his photos.

See that girl
She knows I'm watching
She likes the way I stare

--> This "girl" is a real girl. Maybe a fan. He finds a cute girl in that paparazzi-fan crowd, maybe?

Looking out
Across the morning
Where the city's heart begins to beat
Reaching out
I touch her shoulder
I'm dreaming of the street

--> So he ended up spending the night with her. They woke up together in the morning and they're looking out the window, looking at how the streets are getting more crowded by the minute ("Where the city's heart begins to beat" -> the city comes alive). And he touches her shoulder, and he's recalling the street where he met her maybe.

If they say,
Why, why, tell 'em that it's human nature
Why, why, does he do me that way
If they say,
Why, why, tell 'em that it's human nature
Why, why does he do me that way

I like living this way

I like loving this way

---> Michael being in the NY city, maybe finding a woman whom he likes, is all just human nature.

At the end, I think he's just emphasizing the fact that he's human just like us, so he'll do whatever he pleases...

[Edited 1/16/12 17:53pm]

[Edited 1/16/12 17:53pm]

ThruTheEyesOfWonder said:

Timmy84 said:

I don't think no one knows. Michael didn't even know what the hell it was about. John Bettis wrote the lyrics and as far as I know he hasn't given a story of how that song came about.

Before Michael passed away, a couple of friends and I were discussing it. We couldn't make heads or tails of it, but hey, every artist writes a really far out song that sometimes doesn't make complete sense. But it's beautiful anyway, so you listen to it.

I personally thought it was a song about walking through the streets of New York City (if this town is just an apple, then let me take a bite), and being bombarded with paparazzi (electric eyes are everywhere). He meets a girl along the way (see that girl, she knows I'm watching, she likes the way I stare.) and so on..

That's just me though...

That’s how I always took it to be honest.

The song is about him having a one night stand in New York City. The End

ThruTheEyesOfWonder said:

Timmy84 said:

I don't think no one knows. Michael didn't even know what the hell it was about. John Bettis wrote the lyrics and as far as I know he hasn't given a story of how that song came about.

Before Michael passed away, a couple of friends and I were discussing it. We couldn't make heads or tails of it, but hey, every artist writes a really far out song that sometimes doesn't make complete sense. But it's beautiful anyway, so you listen to it.

I personally thought it was a song about walking through the streets of New York City (if this town is just an apple, then let me take a bite), and being bombarded with paparazzi (electric eyes are everywhere). He meets a girl along the way (see that girl, she knows I'm watching, she likes the way I stare.) and so on..

That's just me though...

That makes sense.

babybugz said:

The song is about him having a one night stand in New York City. The End

babybugz said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

Seriously, we're closing in on three years now and the posts are starting to dry up.

They been I really prefer that we just stick to open threads like I said earlier. I love me some Michael but yall not talking about anything worth while in this thread now so… lol.

lol I'm sorry you felt it that way. I feel like I swallowed 100 MJ-fanatic-pills today. I just had to talk about MJ.

But I don't really get what you're trying to say. Even if they allowed open threads, there can also be meaningless silly discussions, and what do you do? You skip those threads. Same with this sticky. No one owns it. If you think what we're talking about is not worth while, come back some other time. Or start a discussion that you think it's worth while, I'll jump right into it

LiLi1992 said:

silverchild said:

Michael Jackson Sells Over 1 Billion Albums Worldwide [img:$uid]http://i.imgur.com/S9T0r.png[/img:$uid]

Oh, come on ....
The usual declaration, which is not based on actual figures.
1 billion - WOW!
Neither Michael nor the Beatles nor Elvis did not sell even half of that figure.

Michael album sales:
Off The Wall - 18.5 million
Thriller - 72 million
Bad - 32 million
Dangerous - 30 million
History - 18 million
Blood On The Dancefloor - 5.5 million
Invincible - 8.5 million
Greatest Hits HIStory Vol 1 - 2 million
Number Ones - 9.5 million
The Ultimate Collection - 300.000
The Essential - 4.5 million
King Of Pop - 3.5 million
The Collection - 550.000
The Motown Years - 350.000
This Is It - 5.5 million


Motown albums (solo) - about 5 million total.
-----------------------
Total albums sales - about 230 million
Total sales of singles - about 120 million
----------
MJ sold 350 million records of his music (solo). Elvis - about the same.
The Beatles have sold nearly 420 million records

These are BIG 3: best-selling musical acts of all time.
Talks about the sellers - billionaires - myths!!

They're counting the solo Motown albums, the solo Epic albums, the countless compilations, the Jackson 5 albums, and the Jacksons albums. You gotta go all the way back to 1969 and count all of those. I wouldn't be surprised if the number came to over 800 million to a billion

Emancipation89 said:

babybugz said:

They been I really prefer that we just stick to open threads like I said earlier. I love me some Michael but yall not talking about anything worth while in this thread now so… lol.

lol I'm sorry you felt it that way. I feel like I swallowed 100 MJ-fanatic-pills today. I just had to talk about MJ.

But I don't really get what you're trying to say. Even if they allowed open threads, there can also be meaningless silly discussions, and what do you do? You skip those threads. Same with this sticky. No one owns it. If you think what we're talking about is not worth while, come back some other time. Or start a discussion that you think it's worth while, I'll jump right into it

No. I’m saying that the open threads are better because a lot of people don’t come into the sticky. Say what you want but there has been way better discussions outside the sticky . And I wasn't trying to offend but i'm not going to change my words either.

bboy87 said:

LiLi1992 said:

Oh, come on ....
The usual declaration, which is not based on actual figures.
1 billion - WOW!
Neither Michael nor the Beatles nor Elvis did not sell even half of that figure.

Michael album sales:
Off The Wall - 18.5 million
Thriller - 72 million
Bad - 32 million
Dangerous - 30 million
History - 18 million
Blood On The Dancefloor - 5.5 million
Invincible - 8.5 million
Greatest Hits HIStory Vol 1 - 2 million
Number Ones - 9.5 million
The Ultimate Collection - 300.000
The Essential - 4.5 million
King Of Pop - 3.5 million
The Collection - 550.000
The Motown Years - 350.000
This Is It - 5.5 million


Motown albums (solo) - about 5 million total.
-----------------------
Total albums sales - about 230 million
Total sales of singles - about 120 million
----------
MJ sold 350 million records of his music (solo). Elvis - about the same.
The Beatles have sold nearly 420 million records

These are BIG 3: best-selling musical acts of all time.
Talks about the sellers - billionaires - myths!!

They're counting the solo Motown albums, the solo Epic albums, the countless compilations, the Jackson 5 albums, and the Jacksons albums. You gotta go all the way back to 1969 and count all of those. I wouldn't be surprised if the number came to over 800 million to a billion

I still don’t think it’s accurate as timmy was saying but I’m sure they are counting the Jackson 5/motown albums though.