MickyDolenz said:

There was no internet in the 1980s, so that couldn't have helped Mike. Most people didn't have a computer, and if they did it was the green screen ones where you had to type in a bunch of codes to make it do anything, lol.

True. But there certainly was MTV, which had a MASSIVE global influence on pop culture. Also, 360° merchandising hit its stride in the early '80s.

Kind of hard to know in what way the OP meant "popularity", sales, airplay, racial demographics, fandemonium, etc. But I can say for me and the black folks I know, (at the height of the Thriller era) and even now, they ain't checkin' for Elvis and The Beatles like that, never have been

It might be that bands like Pink Floyd and Metallica are actually more popular than any of those three. MJ's death caused a new peak in his sales, but he was just as hated as he was loved after the 1980s. Elvis has not been culturally relevant as anything else than as an icon of the past in ages. How many albums by him can you name? The Beatles? My impression is that they're not really getting that many new fans anymore. They should, but that's not what it's about.

The thing about "classic" hard rock, heavy metal and stadium rock bands is that they just continue to sell, sell, sell and whenever they go on tour they sell out arenas in minutes everywhere. Then there's all the MP3s that get downloaded. People still listen to their music instead of just maybe added MJ to their Facebook likes after he died. They're also selling shitloads of merchandise and it's bands like Metallica that teenagers still try to emulate when starting a band, not The Beatles, Elvis or MJ.

Artesian said:

The org is overrun with Jackson fans, so you know he's gonna be the default answer.

Not only the org. So there you have your answer.

Shawy89 said:

Elvis was at his peak in the 50s (Especially 1955)
The Beatles were at their peak in the 60s (1964)
Michael was at his peak in 1980s (1983 --- when he was the "IT")

These guys were pretty much everywhere... anywhere, any time.

But who was more popular or who had everybody, literally everybody excited at the time?

1. Elvis NEVER tour anywhere in Europe, hence maybe the only reason why he was the least popular worldwide.

2. With THAT^ said, this thread should really be The Beatles or Michael in the popularity contest. While The Beatles were definitely popular as a band, Lennon McCartney were a tie as the most popular individuals from The Beatles.

3. In fairness, Michael was definitely the most popular individual within The Jackson5/The Jacksons. At the height of the Thriller era, Michael was already "bigger than Elvis" in the USA & Worldwide. By the beginning of the Bad era, Michaelmania was and still is THE only thing that either match or suppass Beatlemania, hence why I think Michael wins this discussion, my professional opinion of course.

MickyDolenz said:

SoulAlive said:

but how many R&B fans own anything by Elvis?

Several of Elvis' early records went Top 10 on the R&B chart (Billboard) in the 1950s and others were Top 40 R&B. Elvis had been written about in Jet magazine and he even did an interview with them.

Perhaps,but let's be honest....there weren't alot of R&B and funk fans who were into Elvis On the other hand,rock fans in the 80s were into "Beat It" (which even got airplay on FM rock stations) and the Thriller album.Michael broke alot of boundaries and his music appealed to many more people than the audience that Elvis attracted.I'm not dissing Elvis,btw...just saying that Michael had much more crossover appeal.In 1983,it really felt like everyone on the planet was grooving to Thriller,lol.I can't name one Elvis Presley album that had that same kind of mass appeal and feverish success.

[Edited 3/25/14 4:49am]

now the Beatles are another story.Like MJ,they had that incredible mass appeal.Many R&B fans and R&B artists were into their music.

SoulAlive said:

MickyDolenz said:

Several of Elvis' early records went Top 10 on the R&B chart (Billboard) in the 1950s and others were Top 40 R&B. Elvis had been written about in Jet magazine and he even did an interview with them.

Perhaps,but let's be honest....there weren't alot of R&B and funk fans who were into Elvis On the other hand,rock fans in the 80s were into "Beat It" (which even got airplay on FM rock stations) and the Thriller album.Michael broke alot of boundaries and his music appealed to many more people than the audience that Elvis attracted.I'm not dissing Elvis,btw...just saying that Michael had much more crossover appeal.In 1983,it really felt like everyone on the planet was grooving to Thriller,lol.I can't name one Elvis Presley album that had that same kind of mass appeal and feverish success.

[Edited 3/25/14 4:49am]

Like Mickey said MTV had alot to do with his mass audience appeal. Now how about Julio Iglesias he recorded in multible languages and sold maybe more than any latin artist, maybe even more than Luis Miguel. Julio's crossover was big in the 80's-90's

JoeBala said:

SoulAlive said:

Perhaps,but let's be honest....there weren't alot of R&B and funk fans who were into Elvis On the other hand,rock fans in the 80s were into "Beat It" (which even got airplay on FM rock stations) and the Thriller album.Michael broke alot of boundaries and his music appealed to many more people than the audience that Elvis attracted.I'm not dissing Elvis,btw...just saying that Michael had much more crossover appeal.In 1983,it really felt like everyone on the planet was grooving to Thriller,lol.I can't name one Elvis Presley album that had that same kind of mass appeal and feverish success.

[Edited 3/25/14 4:49am]

Like Mickey said MTV had alot to do with his mass audience appeal. Now how about Julio Iglesias he recorded in multible languages and sold maybe more than any latin artist, maybe even more than Luis Miguel. Julio's crossover was big in the 80's-90's

Who was THE most popular Latin act ever: Julio Iglesias OR Menedo?

SoulAlive said:

Perhaps,but let's be honest....there weren't alot of R&B and funk fans who were into Elvis

People in general don't get into old music of a previous generation. Funk/R&B fans of the 1970's & 80's usually weren't checking for Nat "King" Cole, Chubby Checker, Fats Domino, Sam Cooke, Little Richard, Mahalia Jackson, Jackie Wilson, or Louis Jordan either. Rock fans weren't buying Frank Sinatra and Rosemary Clooney records. Little Richard & Chubby Checker were still releasing records in the 1970s too. A few from that era had a hit or two like Ben E King, Johnny Mathis, and Jerry Butler. Elvis had a few hits on the country chart in the 70's.

MickyDolenz said:

SoulAlive said:

Perhaps,but let's be honest....there weren't alot of R&B and funk fans who were into Elvis

People in general don't get into old music of a previous generation.

And that's why Michael is the clear winner here.

Go to anyone Michael Jackson fan convention, internet forum, fan community, etc. What you'll find is that there's just as many young teenage fans of MJ as there were ten years ago, twenty years ago, and thirty years ago.

You simply cannot say the same of Elvis or The Beatles.

TonyVanDam said:

JoeBala said:

Like Mickey said MTV had alot to do with his mass audience appeal. Now how about Julio Iglesias he recorded in multible languages and sold maybe more than any latin artist, maybe even more than Luis Miguel. Julio's crossover was big in the 80's-90's

Who was THE most popular Latin act ever: Julio Iglesias OR Menedo?

Julio. Menudo fell off after 2 yrs or so in the US, but were still popular in other countries. After Ricky Martin left they had a couple of semi hits with Robby Rosa(Wrote most of Ricky's hit songs) in english in the mid 80's.

Militant said:

MickyDolenz said:

People in general don't get into old music of a previous generation.

And that's why Michael is the clear winner here.

Go to anyone Michael Jackson fan convention, internet forum, fan community, etc. What you'll find is that there's just as many young teenage fans of MJ as there were ten years ago, twenty years ago, and thirty years ago.

You simply cannot say the same of Elvis or The Beatles.

Not necessarily so. All 3 have a Cirque du Soleil show, which has a lot of kids in the audience. There's children and teens at Paul McCartney and Ringo's All Starr Band concerts. Paul's show is a lot of Beatles songs. There's a Beatles Rock Band, and video games is generally a younger audience. Beatles have a Monopoly game, which are popular with all ages. There's kid Elvis imperonators. If you click on Elvis and Beatles videos on Youtube, there's the "I'm 10 years old and I don't like my generations music, but I like this". I've even seen comments like that on Bing Crosby, Andrews Sisters, and Lawrence Welk videos.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Best Selling Latin Artist: Julio Iglesias breaks Guinness world record (VIDEO)

BEIJING, China -- Spanish singer/songwriter Julio Iglesias has made the Book of World Records as the only Latin performer who has sold over 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages, setting the new world record for the Best Selling Latin Artist, according to the World Record Academy: www.worldrecordacademy.com/.

Photo: Spanish singer/songwriter Julio Iglesias has made the Book of World Records as the only Latin performer who has sold over 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages. The crooner also has 2,600 certified gold and platinum records. (enlarge photo)

The Guinness world record for the Best-selling solo artist was set by Elvis Presley (USA), with 1 billion sales worldwide (129.5 million in the USA).

Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the Best selling single of instrumental music, set by a disco arrangement of John Williams' (USA) music to Star Wars (USA, 1977) – entitled "Star Wars Theme and Cantina Band" – by record producer Meco, aka Domenico Monardo (USA) in 1977.

The multi-lingual music icon, who has been noted for selling over 300 million albums across the globe, has also been announced as the recipient of the First and Most Popular International Artist of all time in China title from executives at his record label Sony Music Entertainment.

He will be presented with both awards by acclaimed Chinese classical pianist Lang Lang at a special ceremony in Beijing on Monday (01Apr13).

The event will be Iglesias' first time back in the Chinese capital since 1995, when he was honoured as the country's most popular foreign artist by the Chinese Ministry of Culture.

Iglesias is embarking on an age-defying, gruelling world tour, with an Asian leg taking in the Philippines, South Korea, China, Singapore and Taiwan.

.

These are the best selling 20 Latins till now:

	Artist		Records Sold
1		Julio Iglesias		300,000,000
2		Camilo Sesto		100,000,000
3		Juan Gabriel		100,000,000
4		Roberto Carlos (singer)		100,000,000
5		Luis Miguel (singer)		90,000,000
6		Carlos Santana		80,000,000
7		Raphael (singer)		72,000,000
8		Gloria Estefan		70,000,000
9		Thalía		65,000,000
10		Ricky Martin		60,000,000
11		Enrique Iglesias		60,000,000
12		Maná (band)		58,000,000
13		Shakira		56,000,000
14		Selena (singer)		55,000,000
15		Vicente Fernández		55,000,000
16		Rocío Dúrcal		53,000,000
17		Marco Antonio Solís		50,000,000
18		José Luis Perales		50,000,000
19		José Feliciano		40,000,000
20		José Rómulo Sosa Ortiz		40,000,000

MickyDolenz said:

Militant said:

And that's why Michael is the clear winner here.

Go to anyone Michael Jackson fan convention, internet forum, fan community, etc. What you'll find is that there's just as many young teenage fans of MJ as there were ten years ago, twenty years ago, and thirty years ago.

You simply cannot say the same of Elvis or The Beatles.

Not necessarily so. All 3 have a Cirque du Soleil show, which has a lot of kids in the audience. There's children and teens at Paul McCartney and Ringo's All Starr Band concerts. Paul's show is a lot of Beatles songs. There's a Beatles Rock Band, and video games is generally a younger audience. Beatles have a Monopoly game, which are popular with all ages. There's kid Elvis imperonators. If you click on Elvis and Beatles videos on Youtube, there's the "I'm 10 years old and I don't like my generations music, but I like this". I've even seen comments like that on Bing Crosby, Andrews Sisters, and Lawrence Welk videos.

Nowhere NEAR to the extent of the MJ fanbase. Not even close. Nobody is disputing that some kids go to Paul and Ringo's shows. That's not the same thing at all.

Two tests you can do - go spend some time on an MJ forum, an Elvis forum, and a Beatles forum. Which one has the most teen fans posting on it? Answer - the MJ forum.

Second test - browse the hashtags for all three artists on Tumblr - a website who's demographic is VASTLY skewered to the under 25's. Compare the amount of results you get for each, you'll find that there's far more MJ fans there.

Some anecdotal evidence, all my teenage nephews, nieces and their friends adore MJ. A few of them like the Beatles. I don't think any of them are into Elvis.

That olympics promo is meaningless other than the fact that it promotes the fact that the Olympics were held in London, and The Beatles are synonymous with London. If you asked the actual girls in that picture, I suspect they'd be far more likely to be MJ fans than they would Beatles fans. Of course, that's impossible to prove, but that's my suspicion.

Other thing is that MJ died recently too, so hence he is more popular now. I liked Elvis and The Monkees as a pre-teen kid from the movies/TV series, then I started listening to the oldies station in the 80's and found out about The Beatles, J5, Sam Cooke, Four Seasons, Motown, etc.

[Edited 3/25/14 11:08am]

JoeBala said:

Other thing is that MJ died recently too, so hence he is more popular now. I liked Elvis and The Monkees as a pre-teen kid from the movies/TV series, then I started listening to the oldies station in the 80's and found out about The Beatles, J5, Sam Cooke, Four Seasons, Motown, etc.

Both of them have Broadway shows now, Jersey Boys & Motown The Musical.

What exactly are those pictures supposed to prove? I could sit here and post pictures of children dressed as Michael all day. I never suggested Elvis or The Beatles don't have young fans. Michael simply has a lot more, which is an undeniable fact.

Militant said:

What exactly are those pictures supposed to prove? I could sit here and post pictures of children dressed as Michael all day. I never suggested Elvis or The Beatles don't have young fans. Michael simply has a lot more, which is an undeniable fact.

Mickey is just being playful, but there are no sciencetific proof stating that MJ is the most admired of the 3 of having younger fans. The truth is all 3 had their decades and were the most sucessful in music history period.

The Beatles easy.

...and will only continue to surpass MJ and Elvis. Those two are more cults of personalities of our time, and will slowly fade and fade to mere recollections of old timers. A couple of generations in, they will be the Fatty Arbuckle's of our time.

The music of The Beatles is timeless.

Why does it matter?

Its only about popularity

I support Militant in his point, MJ is famous in all parts of the world, and what gives him extra popularity is that nowadays kids know him & love his dancing and style, its easy for a 8 year old child to click on Youtube and watch Smooth Criminal video alone to be impressed and become a fan, and its damn hard for him to get into the Beatles or Elvis, and untill the kid is more mature, he would be intrested in his today's music. The Beatles are familiar to 20+ yeard old people (nowadays), same goes for Elvis I think. Michael is known to everyone.

Gunsnhalen said:

Why does it matter?

Lol the other day I was arguing with this guy who said that Elvis is the most famous person in history (surpassing Jesus in his popularity), and I thought about asking that on the org but only comparing him with 2 others.

What matters really is the influence and musicanship of each of the three... and good thing they all share a legacy that'll last for so long.

Shawy89 said:

Gunsnhalen said:

Why does it matter?

Lol the other day I was arguing with this guy who said that Elvis is the most famous person in history (surpassing Jesus in his popularity), and I thought about asking that on the org but only comparing him with 2 others.

What matters really is the influence and musicanship of each of the three... and good thing they all share a legacy that'll last for so long.

I understand that in the long run. But asking who's the most popular only starst stan wars. I don't think anyone can know for sure who's the most popular. Militant has been to parts of the world where they knew MJ but not The Beatles. I have been to places where they knew Beatles but not MJ. We can't all travel the world to find out all we have is osme bullshit number and ''records'' which i never see as a stature for anything. I don't think we cold ever quite now who's the most popular ''worldwide''

Gunsnhalen said:

Shawy89 said:

Lol the other day I was arguing with this guy who said that Elvis is the most famous person in history (surpassing Jesus in his popularity), and I thought about asking that on the org but only comparing him with 2 others.

What matters really is the influence and musicanship of each of the three... and good thing they all share a legacy that'll last for so long.

I understand that in the long run. But asking who's the most popular only starst stan wars. I don't think anyone can know for sure who's the most popular. Militant has been to parts of the world where they knew MJ but not The Beatles. I have been to places where they knew Beatles but not MJ. We can't all travel the world to find out all we have is osme bullshit number and ''records'' which i never see as a stature for anything. I don't think we cold ever quite now who's the most popular ''worldwide''

No disrespect but i seriously doubt that. He's too famous for that.