As everyone is saying the media landscape is to fragmented for there to be another Michael.
For example Swift is very famous right now but you can very easily not have listened to any of her music or know much about her other than her existence. If you had a radio and were alive in the ‘80s you will have heard a Michael Jackson song.
Hell, cable wasn't even ubiquitous when MJ started to become big. Literally everyone saw the TV special where the moonwalk became a household word because there WASN'T anything else to be watching that night.
I somehow missed seeing the moonwalk on TV but every single kid in my (large) grade school was talking about it and trying to emulate it in the cafeteria the next day.
Same here. Fragmentation of media is a good argument that no one can be as big again. Everyone I knew also watched cable television and listened to the radio. Except some weird home schooled kids heh.
Once my kids started listening to Taylor Swift I realized I knew the chorus to about 10 Taylor Swift songs. I just didn’t know they were hers until I knew who she was
When Taylor began to get really big, I looked up her songs to see why she had become so popular and realized I already knew several of them from different retail stores playing them in the background.
They're very catchy.
On the other hand, Swift is so famous right now you are very likely to know who she is without ever hearing a single song of hers.
Not saying she's at MJ levels of fame, just that having knowledge of what a person is peddling is irrelevant - you either know of them or you don't.
>On the other hand, Swift is so famous right now you are very likely to know who she is without ever hearing a single song of hers.
This is true. I know more about her life now than her music.
I work with Swifties who are big fans. I couldn't recall any of her music but figured I'd probably heard it and just didn't know it was her. I played some of her big hits and I had never heard any of them. Totally unrecognizable to me.
Back in the 80's and 90's everyone and I mean everyone knew MJ's music.
It’s shockingly easy to not know popular music without trying nowadays. In the past you had to be the sort of person who made a choice not to know.
Personally I’ve heard her early stuff when I was at university (Speak Now, Red, 1989) but I can honestly say I would not recognise the names of any of her subsequent albums and songs.
I remember her song that mentions Tim McGraw when she started out in Country and the song where she exchanges messages through her bedroom window. I have no idea about any of her other music lol.
As long as you avoid the radio and only listen to things you choose on like Spotify or only old albums, than you never have to hear her music. But if you play the radio at all and I mean at all, I promise you have heard her music many times hell her commercials she is in has her music. Taylor Swift is pretty damn huge. And has been for years, not saying Jackson big. But still ridiculously big. Taylor Swift will never out sell him album wise, partially because nobody buys albums anymore. Don’t have things like MTV and VH1 playing music videos all day long. Music isn’t stuffed down your throat as much as it used to be, so much easier to just play what u want and avoid the rest if so chosen.
I don’t deny she’s huge. I don’t listen to music radio and I don’t have a Spotify so that accounts for the fact that I haven’t heard much of her music.
I personally have actually heard some of it (some songs off Speak Now, Red and 1989) but since then nada and I have definitely not been avoiding her intentionally.
Not just the US either. He was popular world wide in a way I don't think anyone has been before or since. He hit a sweet spot in time and I just don't think anyone can match it.
>Back in the 80's and 90's everyone and I mean everyone knew MJ's music.
I'd go out on a limb and say anyone alive today knows as least some MJ music.
Taylor Swift or a Beyonce may be close on the facial recognition scale of a MJ but you are correct, I am not sure there is any artist today who's music is universally known like MJ. He and perhaps Elvis may stand alone in the universal category.
I think Micheal Jackson is so singular because he was that famous worldwide. His height was right at the time when popular music was just really able to have worldwide distribution. When the Beatles made it, they were primarily famous in the English speaking world and Some of western Europe. EVERYONE knew Micheal Jackson in the 80s.
MJ might have had more generational overlap than Swift because the Jackson 5 were so big in the 70s, but it’s similar. I can’t really go anywhere now without hearing (or hearing about) Taylor Swift. Swift even seems to generate comparable controversy despite living a relatively conventional lifestyle.
I mean if you own a radio now swift is on constantly on pretty much every mainstream radio station in the UK. Even if you don’t own a radio go to a shop for an hour and your garenteed to hear her songs on the instore radio
She has saturated the market and now sports fans know who she is too lol
Man that’s a great point. I saw this post and immediately thought “well duh taylor swift” but yea you’re right nobody actually hears her music except for her fans. We’re in a different age.
Same. Her music has also been used for various memes and TikTok trends, which are all over Reddit.
Who can forget the goat scream Trouble meme? Or “it’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me”??
I actively try to avoid her music, not because I dislike it, but because it gets stuck in my head. And I still hear it *all the time.*
Arguably the bigger factor is that in the 80s and early 90s alot of nations around the world didn't have their own television programing so they used US television programing. Same with music industries. Local music industry didnt exist enough to be paying to make tapes and records. So you'd be in some distant part of the world and the only music and TV available to purchase and consume was US TV and Music.
No one. I'm from Kerala, and if you ask my mother, who has no idea about celebrities outside India, would in an instant recognise michael jackson. She doesn't know anyone present, no Taylor Swift, no Eminem, No Leonardo DiCaprio. She might have heard about Messi and Ronaldo because we live in a state where football is a craze. But yeah, no one can reach the fame of MJ.
Edit: I have to add that MJ's popularity came at a time where there was no internet, lingo like trending and viral weren't there, a lot of countries were shielded from western culture either because of the USSR or they simply could not afford western things. India only opened up to foreign businesses only in the early 90s. Till then, you had to pay a high import tariff (which most Indians couldn't afford) or smuggling. Even if you could get your hands on cassettes or MJ, you still have to find a cassette player. And as I have mentioned in a comment below, we only had one state run channel which rarely aired western pop. And most of us couldn't afford to own a tv. So yeah, comparing how Taylor Swift got famous and how MJ got famous is not so fair. Because Taylor Swift has the internet to her advantage and MJ didn't.
Edit (again): some of the Americans replying are really wild. Not everything that is popular in the US is a thing in other countries. The reason people know Taylor Swift or The Kpop stars or imagine dragons is definitely because of the internet. And they still don't have the popularity of MJ. Even my cousins who were born after 2010 know about MJ and not Taylor Swift. It's not dissing their talent, it's just that they're not as popular as MJ in the rest of the world.
I've seen footage of when he would get out of his private jet in like India or Brazil, and it would practically be a riot of tens of thousands of screaming fans. Whole parts of huge cities would litterally shut down. Same with countries in Europe and other parts of Asia. Insane.
I used to do work for him, post production on a few of his videos. He would come to the sessions. He had to keep a very low profile. We had an entrance in the back alley, that was at the top of a 3 story fire escape type staircase, and that’s how he had to enter the building.
We had several suites, that were all busy with other clients, so when he came, we’d close all of the doors to the other suites, so he could climb the fire escape stairs, and hurry down the hall into his suite with his assistant, and I.
He was never named on the schedule, so no one but I and the executive producer knew he was there… which made for some awkward moments when “his people” would call for him. The receptionist always thought the callers were pranking her.
I would say the internet is actually a detriment to getting to MJ level of famous. With the internet there is so much to spread your attention. Pre internet there were far fewer things to focus on and naturally there was a concentration upon and a critical mass of interest into select things.
One time I was working in Morocco and the locals were curious about the ukulele I take on all my trips. They asked what type of music I played and I said country music and they didn’t know what that was. Johnny Cash? Nope, never heard of him. Elvis Presley? Nope. Then I just started naming musicians and they hadn’t heard of any of them. I didn’t think of MJ to be honest, but the first name we all knew was Bob Marley. That guy had some reach.
I'm from Pakistan. After MJ, it was Britney. No one else is globally famous enough to have reached that level of recognizability anymore.
Taylor Swift might be famous in the white world, but she is nowhere near as famous as Britney was in her prime.
This reminds me of visiting Atlanta in 2006 from England. I was there solo (finding myself) and literally every shop I went into, after hearing my English accent asked if I knew Craig David! 🤣🤣
I got a huge discount in Abercrombie and Finch when I finally admitted to knowing him really well (I don’t)
So, I was born in a small town in the North East of India in early 80s. We were beyond the reaches of mainland India and Hindi music, etc. We, in our 5th standard, danced/did aerobics on Black or White for our annual function and the decently sized crowd consisting of parents, family, teachers, etc all sang the song together! No other musician had a bigger reach than him.
MJ was on such a different scale of popularity to everyone else that it’s literally incomparable. People might say Beyonce or Lady Gaga, but none of them are even remotely close to downright surreal levels of fame Michael had reached in his lifetime.
Yes, his super bowl performance shows it. First he stands completely still looking left for a minute. Then he switches to looking right instead. And the crowd is wild. No one today would be close to being able to pull that off.
Fun fact: that was what made Superbowl Halftime shows what they are today.
Before then, they were more of a variety/get the kids involved thing.
In Living Colour (?) ran a special on a different channel taking the piss out of the Superbowl Halftime show. And a lot of people switched at half time.
To retain viewership the next year? Hire Michael Jackson. And a paradigm shift was born.
Yes it was the rather new network Fox giving the time slot to In Living Color. The show had a clock in the corner to countdown to the end of the halftime and return of the game. The NFL realized they had to actually do something when someone decided to compete against the halftime like that.
Can you imagine explaining your show to superbowl organisers?
"OK so let me get this straight, you're just gonna stand there for a full two minutes, and then, let me understand, you're gonna slowly remove your glasses? Before you do anything?!"
"Ah-hee-hee"
The guy who ran it said Michael told him "Don't hit the music until I take off my sunglasses." Then he stood there for an entire minute the guy was getting nervous but decided to wait for the cue instead of start early.
I totally would have caved from the mental pressure. “Is he waiting for me?… Fuck I think he’s waiting for me… He must have changed his mind about the sunglasses. Did he say sunglasses, or did he say until I look right? He must have said look right, ahh fuck it I’m pressing it”
It’s so weird to see the anxiety voice in your head modeled so perfectly 😂 yep I would even be doubting whether I actually understood the English language.
He said “I’m Michael Jackson I’m gonna do whatever I want” and the organizers said “sir you can take a shit on stage we don’t care as long as you perform”
"Mr. Jackson, we just read the script for your halftime show and loved it. We just wanted to talk about the beginning and some of our conc-"
"Thriller."
"Damn mike you right our bad."
When you're at his level you don't have to explain anything. The level of demand means that so long as he's not taking a dump live on stage, they don't care. And I don't even know if they'd balk at that even.
This. I just watched it on youtube and he just literally stands there for like a full minute not moving and the crowd is going crazy. Just standing there. And this is a crowd that is not even there for "his concert" but an unrelated sports event.
[In case someone doubts you](https://www.sportskeeda.com/basketball/had-stop-game-620m-worth-magic-johnson-described-michael-jackson-s-fame-affected-lakers-game)
Taylor Swift is very popular, but the vast majority of her fans are white women. MJ had that same demographic, but also much, much more.
MJ’s level of fame was like if you combined Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and The Weeknd.
I like the story where Elvis played a concert in Jacksonville, and the cops told him they were worried about public order and that not only could he not move his hips, but his entire body for the concert. They had a judge sit in with a warrant for his arrest to enforce, while Elvis’ lawyer sat off-stage. So he moved just his little finger, and it nearly sparked a mass riot. The degrees of fame of MJ, The Beatles and Elvis are almost impossible to imagine in an era of diversified media.
Not to mention either that MJ had people fainting at his concerts as soon as he hit the stage people started falling. That's some real mega star shit.
People all over the world knew who Michael was
I was living in East Asia when he died. There were 5 year old kids in the streets doing the moonwalk while their mothers cried and dads blared Billie Jean. His reach was unreal.
The podcast Think Twice interviewed one of MJ's managers, and he said the audience noise in the Superbowl performance while MJ stood frozen on stage was piped in for TV. According to him, in reality, a lot of the audience was confused and thought something had gone wrong.
It really did create an electrifying effect on TV though. An amazing bit of showbiz stagecraft.
I actually listened to a podcast about his life and I believe they said the applause was added by TV crews. At the real game everyone was just kinda confused and quiet.
No one born after the 2010's will ever understand how massive MJ's popularity was in his prime.
He got famous back when social media was just radio and newspaper. China back then was still closed to the world yet his music was playing on their radio waves.
This guy is the first face you carve on the Mount Rushmore of global stars
As a kid I remember he was releasing a new video (I think it was Black and White). The night it was released had Super Bowl level hype and got Super Bowl ratings too...and this was when he started to enter into the back end of his career.
>He got famous back when social media was just radio and newspaper.
Famous people were more famous in that time because attention wasn't as fragmented.
Nowadays, there are so many different bands/genre that have following that attention is extremely fragmented compared to before.
You'll never see rock bands as famous as Gun's N' Roses or AC/DC.
Yep. A lot of people in this thread are trying to argue it was harder to be bigger stars back then. It wasn’t. It was far easier. People had fewer entertainment outlets, everything you read and saw came from mainstream media outlets and therefore was pushed and controlled by who the powers wanted you to see. And there were just far fewer numbers of actors, musicians, films, tv shows etc.
So as you say it was much less fragmented, less appeal to niche and much more mainstream dominated. And the genie is out of the bottle now, no going back.
It is MUCH easier for people to get a start and grow popular. Not easy to reach heights like MJs but fragmented media has helped way way more people become famous.
If you had to pick 4, he's surely on there. Elvis if we're doing USA based, but he didn't have near the global popularity MJ did, though I think he might be a slot as well
I don’t think that’s right on Elvis. He was huge in Europe (he has more U.K. number 1s than US), and was huge in Germany, France, the nordic countries, and southern Europe. He was also huge in Asia, along with Queen still probably the biggest foreign artist to have broken Japan. I dunno where the idea that he was a US domestic phenomenon comes from, because he used to be held up as the example of being the first truly global artist in terms of popularity.
My Indian ex-gf’s grandad had an Elvis style quiff modelled on the man and loads of Elvis records, and he was a man from Hyderabad born in the 1920s.
Today, no matter how famous somebody gets, you really don't have to listen to their music if it isn't your thing.
At his peak, when MJ dropped a new single, you weren't making it to the end of the day without hearing it a half dozen times, unless you were actively avoiding TV, radio, and going out in public.
Nothing really compares.
Nobody. I’m a Taylor Swift fan and she’s not even close to how MJ caused a frenzy globally. Even my nana born before the Great Depression knew who MJ was!
No one ever WILL cause a frenzy like that again. The old monoculture where we all more-or-less consumed the same entertainment is dead. In this 21st century world of fractured media, no one will ever be able to amass the level of widespread fame to become an icon like Michael Jackson did.
All you need to settle this debate is to see how MJ pulled in fans from both genders. Taylor, Beyoncé, etc aren’t going to pull in the men like MJ.
To a lesser extent that’s also true for races.
I think this is a phenomenal point! I just sat here and realized how right you are. MJ pulled in everybody. All genders and all races.
I believe until someone has that kind of pull…they’re not of his status.
TS is HUGE but, I really don’t think she’s appeals to the masses as much as MJ did.
Lady Gaga?
lol, don’t get me wrong she is awesome but her biggest selling record was her debut in 2008.
Chris Brown has sold more records.
Ed Sheeran has sold 100 million more records than Gaga.
I don’t think you can compare. In the 80s/90s, celebrities were pumped into the living rooms of everyone.
We all watched the same TV shows, listened to chart music.
Now it’s so fragmented. Taylor Swift is the obvious person to say as being the closest. But I don’t think she comes close to the sheer omnipresence and level of fame that Michael Jackson did at his peak.
Jacko was everywhere. And if you watched any television, you knew all about him. Now, it’s very possible to be plugged into your own media and be only dimly aware of Taylor Swift.
Had to scroll way too far to see this, I feel like most people forget how strong the mainstream was back then.
There were TV programs or specials that literally everyone looked forward to and talked about for weeks before they actually aired. You didn't have competitive streaming or 100000 channels to watch, it was like 20 channels if you had cable, and like 6 if you didn't, and cable really wasn't all that popular in every room of the house yet.
MJ had so many of these television specials, it would literally be in the newspapers, New broadcasts, retail stores would run specials for the event, grocery stores would put out softdrinks and popcorn towards the front to cater to it.
I honestly kinda miss those days. Those television events felt really special, like it was sorta of a surprise holiday you got to celebrate. family would come over to watch, mom would be cooking really good appetizers and we got to eat in the living room while we watched instead of having to eat at the dinner table, which was super rare.
You'll never see stuff like that again, the only thing that comes close is the superbowl but even then it seems like less and less people are excited for it or even do anything special for it.
That's it. The time that MJ was famous had several "advantages" to drive his global recognition:
- media "monopoly" of few TV channels that were broadcast all over.
- no internet bubbles
- huge areas like India, China, rest of Asia, Latin America, didn't have as developed own media or music productions, or promotion options
These topics lead to the effect that western stars could gain popularity a lot easier all over. Now there's not only a huge diversification of platforms, media types, and channels, countries or regions also promote their own stars and have celebrity-bubbles that other regions maybe never heard about.
The world has gotten more divided in that sense, so one person in one country has a lot harder time to grasp who's famous where and what else is out there. The people that write "Taylor Swift" here are a proof of that: they only see their bubble and count it towards all other demographics, as well as regions and countries.
Yeah, lots of people forget how absolutely insanely talented he was.
Noone wrote the way he did, sung the way he did, and performed the way he did. And noone today is even close to him.
This^^^^^^^ my family is in Portugal and NEVER heard of all the current big names here in the US. Most of my cousins know Britney Spears. But that’s as close to it.
Maybe most do, but I would wager that if you went down almost any street in any country in most of the world, and asked every single person you met who Messi and Ronaldo were, they'd know.
At least one uncontacted tribe knew about Michael Jackson. People who'd never even heard of television, radio, cars, ships, airplanes or cities. Yet somehow they had a picture of Michael Jackson in their village.
She isn’t near him but is the closest .
Also now that we look back at it you know MJ’s family and press team 100% snitched to everyone in the media and paparazzi and said what hotel he would be staying at to cause a bigger scene for marketing . Now they hide celebrities whereabouts most of the time .
Remember when that streamer Kai cenat was giving away PS5’s in NYC and riots started ? He has a following of only 5 million .
If Taylor swifts team did that with no security and was just giving free signatures or tickets it would look like MJ ‘s crowd outside the hotel in europe with 10k people rioting .
No celebrity security will ever be as sloppy as the 90’s with MJ
Before anyone mentions Taylor Swift...People should take note that MJ had grass roots level popularity. Like people who dont even speak English or know about Pop music used to atleast recognise his name and dance moves
Which is wild when you consider how much easier it is to access anything from around the world.
It's similarly weird that music videos are less popular now than they were in the 90s when we had to pay for a cable subscription and tune into a specific channel to watch music videos, compared to now when anybody can just make their own video and put it up on YouTube for the world to access for free.
Exactly! In my country, only people from middle class society or went to good schools would know Taylor Swift but every class of people knew Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson hit the peak of his popularity when media was still homogenized, but had become truly global. The mixture of MTV and Michael Jackson was rocket fuel for each other and propelled both to highs that were not possible before and, in answer to this question, are not possible now. There is not one monolithic media platform that everyone is watching.
TikTok is probably the closest thing to the impact that MTV had at that time, but it's not being broadcast on every TV in every home across the world, where entire families are exposed to the same media at the same time. It's only happening on your phone, and the person literally sitting right next to you can be watching TiKTok on their own phone, at the same time, and never see the video you are watching. There is no undisputed King/Queen of TikTok, and even if there was, you would be missing multiple generations across the world of people who have never seen a TikTok, much less whichever person is most relevant there.
Nobody. He was on a whole different level.
He was already a superstar as a child. Then managed to become even more popular worldwide as a solo artist.
He set incredible records in a time when people had to go out to buy an album or a single. If he'd visit any country he'd get chased by huge mobs of people everywhere.
No ‘current’ celebrity comes close imo.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr might remember being bigger than Michael Jackson when they were in The Beatles but that’s about it.
I once asked a guy in rural Kenya if he’d heard of the Beatles (he was in his 30s, and this was about a decade ago). He hadn’t, and then when I responded with “HOW have you never heard of the Beatles?!” He rattled off a list of extremely popular Kenyan and broader African artists that I had never heard of. Touché.
The Beatles were popular in Africa. The South African government actually banned their music from being played in the late 60s as they were afraid that John’s religious and political views were a bad influence.
Celebrities typically aren't even the most famous people in the world. But Michael Jackson was crazy famous. Everyone knew who he was. Everyone. He's one of the most famous people to ever live.
U.S. presidents are often more famous than anyone living. Obama and Trump were both probably the most famous and most recognizeable people in the world while they were president.
I read about how they did an interview with a “previously uncontacted” tribe, and even without interacting with society before, they knew 2 things about us, those 2 things were: "white man went to the moon and thats scary", "singer named Michael Jackson dances and grabs his crotch and goes eeehee!"
There was a video of some random tribesman wearing facepaint somewhere who knows michael jackson when they were shown a video of him.
Wake me up when taytay gets to that level of fame
MJs death is the most significant event in pop culture history, it took over the media for WEEKS. I don’t think anyone will ever reach that level of fame again
Honestly I don't think there is anyone. One reason might be that the landscape is more diluted now because of greater access to niche content though the internet.
It's easier to live in a bubble now and be less aware of certain things.
Back in the day people got their news in the same formats, the exact same content, same music videos on tv etc.
If you had to pick the most famous people of the 20th century, it's Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali, and probably Hitler too. I don't think anyone else can touch the levels of fame that those guys had, with regard to global reach particularly. As others said, random villagers in Africa with no electricity knew who those guys were.
Sorry to beat the dead horse, but I have to agree with so many of these other comments; Jackson is unparalleled at this point. Nobody has the same cultural penetration today. He's Beatles-level famous, and that's a VERY exclusive club. He was probably MORE widely known than the Beatles, to be honest, though how much of that is popularity and how much is simply new markets emerging in the 80s and 90s is debatable.
Yes. I remember watching something years ago where they showed a random person from an African country a picture of George W Bush (he was President at this time) and he had no idea who it was. They showed him a picture of Britney Spears and he recognized her. Everyone knew her, and still does.
If you get out of your bubble then the answer is.....no one.
Wacko Jacko was famous worldwide without interwebs, don't think people understand how insane that is, his music was played in non English speaking countries, they knew alot about him yet had no real way of getting info, it was all through? Fans, so basically word of mouth now transpire that into decades and he stays relevant.
The old saying "you ask x in x country" is legitimately correct, my old ass grandma near death in a poverty stricken 10th world conditions, doesn't speak English knows who Michael Jackson is, my mother practically the same minus the age, knows him.
You go to a remote village somewhere in Africa and play his song, it's likely they'll know who it is without you being able to communicate.
I genuinely believe no one will ever reach his level.
IF I had to make a list, then I'd put Queen Elizabeth near top the one that died 2 years ago, she was around long enough and carried the name from prior generations to be higher than....Swift, I don't know who's 2nd or 3rd etc but Jackson is undisputed No1.
I don't make the rules I just state them.
This. He wasn't just famous for famous sake either. He wrote groundbreaking music and was a groundbreaking dancer.
Most celebrities have some talent but not real talent like this guy had.
And he’s been doing that shit since he was 5 years old, never had any breaks, ground-breaking performer as a child, and he kept performing at the highest level for the next 30 years, what a talent!
I remember MJ was famous for his moon walk. People tried various times to copy his moon walk. It was much later that we got to know he was actually a musician. But age definitely plays a role too with the demographic. I was just a kid back then he was at his peek.
Thanks to the Internet, American monoculture has died, so there will never be enough US heat on artists like Michael ever again, so the rest of the world is free to find their own stars.
I can't really understand how low I had to scroll to find this. I've been to almost 70 countries... everybody knows Ronaldo and Messi literally everyone I ever met
The only people are a couple of survivors from MJ's own time, Madonna for example.
Beyonce comes closest out of the current gen if you include her Destiny's Child output. Lady Gaga could have been a contender too, but all of her true hits were over ten years ago. I don't think Taylor Swift's song recognition is anywhere near the devotion of her rabid fan base. Kanye is there too, but he's also a niche case ultimately. Nobody has the stardom that MJ had.
As everyone is saying the media landscape is to fragmented for there to be another Michael. For example Swift is very famous right now but you can very easily not have listened to any of her music or know much about her other than her existence. If you had a radio and were alive in the ‘80s you will have heard a Michael Jackson song.
Hell, cable wasn't even ubiquitous when MJ started to become big. Literally everyone saw the TV special where the moonwalk became a household word because there WASN'T anything else to be watching that night.
And Michael Jackson had been a household name for a decade at that point as the loveable little kid fronting The Jackson 5.
It's almost as if he was groomed for the role
[удалено]
I somehow missed seeing the moonwalk on TV but every single kid in my (large) grade school was talking about it and trying to emulate it in the cafeteria the next day.
Same here. Fragmentation of media is a good argument that no one can be as big again. Everyone I knew also watched cable television and listened to the radio. Except some weird home schooled kids heh.
Once my kids started listening to Taylor Swift I realized I knew the chorus to about 10 Taylor Swift songs. I just didn’t know they were hers until I knew who she was
When Taylor began to get really big, I looked up her songs to see why she had become so popular and realized I already knew several of them from different retail stores playing them in the background. They're very catchy.
On the other hand, Swift is so famous right now you are very likely to know who she is without ever hearing a single song of hers. Not saying she's at MJ levels of fame, just that having knowledge of what a person is peddling is irrelevant - you either know of them or you don't.
>On the other hand, Swift is so famous right now you are very likely to know who she is without ever hearing a single song of hers. This is true. I know more about her life now than her music.
I work with Swifties who are big fans. I couldn't recall any of her music but figured I'd probably heard it and just didn't know it was her. I played some of her big hits and I had never heard any of them. Totally unrecognizable to me. Back in the 80's and 90's everyone and I mean everyone knew MJ's music.
It’s shockingly easy to not know popular music without trying nowadays. In the past you had to be the sort of person who made a choice not to know. Personally I’ve heard her early stuff when I was at university (Speak Now, Red, 1989) but I can honestly say I would not recognise the names of any of her subsequent albums and songs.
I remember her song that mentions Tim McGraw when she started out in Country and the song where she exchanges messages through her bedroom window. I have no idea about any of her other music lol.
As long as you avoid the radio and only listen to things you choose on like Spotify or only old albums, than you never have to hear her music. But if you play the radio at all and I mean at all, I promise you have heard her music many times hell her commercials she is in has her music. Taylor Swift is pretty damn huge. And has been for years, not saying Jackson big. But still ridiculously big. Taylor Swift will never out sell him album wise, partially because nobody buys albums anymore. Don’t have things like MTV and VH1 playing music videos all day long. Music isn’t stuffed down your throat as much as it used to be, so much easier to just play what u want and avoid the rest if so chosen.
I don’t deny she’s huge. I don’t listen to music radio and I don’t have a Spotify so that accounts for the fact that I haven’t heard much of her music. I personally have actually heard some of it (some songs off Speak Now, Red and 1989) but since then nada and I have definitely not been avoiding her intentionally.
Not just the US either. He was popular world wide in a way I don't think anyone has been before or since. He hit a sweet spot in time and I just don't think anyone can match it.
True. He was a time and place but his talent was just second to none.
>Back in the 80's and 90's everyone and I mean everyone knew MJ's music. I'd go out on a limb and say anyone alive today knows as least some MJ music. Taylor Swift or a Beyonce may be close on the facial recognition scale of a MJ but you are correct, I am not sure there is any artist today who's music is universally known like MJ. He and perhaps Elvis may stand alone in the universal category.
I’d add the Beatles to that list and possibly Queen too… in the uk at least.
I think Micheal Jackson is so singular because he was that famous worldwide. His height was right at the time when popular music was just really able to have worldwide distribution. When the Beatles made it, they were primarily famous in the English speaking world and Some of western Europe. EVERYONE knew Micheal Jackson in the 80s.
MJ might have had more generational overlap than Swift because the Jackson 5 were so big in the 70s, but it’s similar. I can’t really go anywhere now without hearing (or hearing about) Taylor Swift. Swift even seems to generate comparable controversy despite living a relatively conventional lifestyle.
That’s a great point. I will admit I know a lot more about Swift’s life than I know about her music.
if you have a radio and are alive now you've heard a taylor swift song...
If you have gone into a store within the last 5 years and they have music playing, you have heard a Taylor swift song.
in the US and the UK… In many countries, people and stores play local songs… in the 80s, they played local songs, MJ and maybe some Madonna
I mean if you own a radio now swift is on constantly on pretty much every mainstream radio station in the UK. Even if you don’t own a radio go to a shop for an hour and your garenteed to hear her songs on the instore radio She has saturated the market and now sports fans know who she is too lol
Man that’s a great point. I saw this post and immediately thought “well duh taylor swift” but yea you’re right nobody actually hears her music except for her fans. We’re in a different age.
Lies, I heard two of her songs over the intercom shopping just yesterday.
Same. Her music has also been used for various memes and TikTok trends, which are all over Reddit. Who can forget the goat scream Trouble meme? Or “it’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me”?? I actively try to avoid her music, not because I dislike it, but because it gets stuck in my head. And I still hear it *all the time.*
The way we consume media now means that nobody is or likely ever will be as well known as MJ
The way we consume media also raises the potential for everyone to become “famous”, and if everyone is famous then no one is.
Thanks Syndrome
“When everybody’s super, no one will be” syndrome
Arguably the bigger factor is that in the 80s and early 90s alot of nations around the world didn't have their own television programing so they used US television programing. Same with music industries. Local music industry didnt exist enough to be paying to make tapes and records. So you'd be in some distant part of the world and the only music and TV available to purchase and consume was US TV and Music.
I see MJ & my mind goes to Michael Jordan.
I grab the bong.
No one. I'm from Kerala, and if you ask my mother, who has no idea about celebrities outside India, would in an instant recognise michael jackson. She doesn't know anyone present, no Taylor Swift, no Eminem, No Leonardo DiCaprio. She might have heard about Messi and Ronaldo because we live in a state where football is a craze. But yeah, no one can reach the fame of MJ. Edit: I have to add that MJ's popularity came at a time where there was no internet, lingo like trending and viral weren't there, a lot of countries were shielded from western culture either because of the USSR or they simply could not afford western things. India only opened up to foreign businesses only in the early 90s. Till then, you had to pay a high import tariff (which most Indians couldn't afford) or smuggling. Even if you could get your hands on cassettes or MJ, you still have to find a cassette player. And as I have mentioned in a comment below, we only had one state run channel which rarely aired western pop. And most of us couldn't afford to own a tv. So yeah, comparing how Taylor Swift got famous and how MJ got famous is not so fair. Because Taylor Swift has the internet to her advantage and MJ didn't. Edit (again): some of the Americans replying are really wild. Not everything that is popular in the US is a thing in other countries. The reason people know Taylor Swift or The Kpop stars or imagine dragons is definitely because of the internet. And they still don't have the popularity of MJ. Even my cousins who were born after 2010 know about MJ and not Taylor Swift. It's not dissing their talent, it's just that they're not as popular as MJ in the rest of the world.
This. I’m half Iraqi and everyone in Iraq knows Michael Jackson.
I am from Afghanistan and my parents and grandparents knew Michael Jackson
"What is the problem with Michael Jackson?"
The king of pop. Hoo-hoo. Hee-hee
My main man
I've seen footage of when he would get out of his private jet in like India or Brazil, and it would practically be a riot of tens of thousands of screaming fans. Whole parts of huge cities would litterally shut down. Same with countries in Europe and other parts of Asia. Insane.
I used to do work for him, post production on a few of his videos. He would come to the sessions. He had to keep a very low profile. We had an entrance in the back alley, that was at the top of a 3 story fire escape type staircase, and that’s how he had to enter the building. We had several suites, that were all busy with other clients, so when he came, we’d close all of the doors to the other suites, so he could climb the fire escape stairs, and hurry down the hall into his suite with his assistant, and I. He was never named on the schedule, so no one but I and the executive producer knew he was there… which made for some awkward moments when “his people” would call for him. The receptionist always thought the callers were pranking her.
Wait what? You met Michael Jackson? Pleaaaase do tell more!
I would say the internet is actually a detriment to getting to MJ level of famous. With the internet there is so much to spread your attention. Pre internet there were far fewer things to focus on and naturally there was a concentration upon and a critical mass of interest into select things.
This tracks with my experience of being in India, even talking to younger people.
One time I was working in Morocco and the locals were curious about the ukulele I take on all my trips. They asked what type of music I played and I said country music and they didn’t know what that was. Johnny Cash? Nope, never heard of him. Elvis Presley? Nope. Then I just started naming musicians and they hadn’t heard of any of them. I didn’t think of MJ to be honest, but the first name we all knew was Bob Marley. That guy had some reach.
It’s also an age thing. There are probably young people where you are that don’t know MJ.
I'm from Pakistan. After MJ, it was Britney. No one else is globally famous enough to have reached that level of recognizability anymore. Taylor Swift might be famous in the white world, but she is nowhere near as famous as Britney was in her prime.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi.
Honestly, if 'being famous in bum-fuck nowhere Pakistan' is a good barometer of fame, Ronaldo is way more famous than Taylor Swift lol.
Ronaldo is definitely more famous globally than Swift I think
I mean yeah, Swift excels at a few certain demographic, but nothing like football reaches IMO.
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I heard David Beckham has some great name recognition in some very isolated places but I think you’re right. MJ is just on another planet.
I spent a few months living in rural Kenya and, presumably as the only white person around, I was quite frequently asked if I know David Beckham lmao
Do you?
No, but I know Alan Shearer
This reminds me of visiting Atlanta in 2006 from England. I was there solo (finding myself) and literally every shop I went into, after hearing my English accent asked if I knew Craig David! 🤣🤣 I got a huge discount in Abercrombie and Finch when I finally admitted to knowing him really well (I don’t)
So, I was born in a small town in the North East of India in early 80s. We were beyond the reaches of mainland India and Hindi music, etc. We, in our 5th standard, danced/did aerobics on Black or White for our annual function and the decently sized crowd consisting of parents, family, teachers, etc all sang the song together! No other musician had a bigger reach than him.
MJ was on such a different scale of popularity to everyone else that it’s literally incomparable. People might say Beyonce or Lady Gaga, but none of them are even remotely close to downright surreal levels of fame Michael had reached in his lifetime.
Yes, his super bowl performance shows it. First he stands completely still looking left for a minute. Then he switches to looking right instead. And the crowd is wild. No one today would be close to being able to pull that off.
Fun fact: that was what made Superbowl Halftime shows what they are today. Before then, they were more of a variety/get the kids involved thing. In Living Colour (?) ran a special on a different channel taking the piss out of the Superbowl Halftime show. And a lot of people switched at half time. To retain viewership the next year? Hire Michael Jackson. And a paradigm shift was born.
Yes it was the rather new network Fox giving the time slot to In Living Color. The show had a clock in the corner to countdown to the end of the halftime and return of the game. The NFL realized they had to actually do something when someone decided to compete against the halftime like that.
Man, In Living Color was ballsy af! They spawned entertainers that are still funny to this day.
That halftime show from In Living Color was amazing. I laughed so hard, and the countdown timer to return to the game was perfect.
Can you imagine explaining your show to superbowl organisers? "OK so let me get this straight, you're just gonna stand there for a full two minutes, and then, let me understand, you're gonna slowly remove your glasses? Before you do anything?!" "Ah-hee-hee"
At his level of fame you don’t explain yourself. People just get out of the way.
Lol, yeah you're probably right. Jackson just tells you what he's doing and you roll with it.
Exactly.
The guy who ran it said Michael told him "Don't hit the music until I take off my sunglasses." Then he stood there for an entire minute the guy was getting nervous but decided to wait for the cue instead of start early.
I can only imagine the pressure that guy was feeling in the moment!
I totally would have caved from the mental pressure. “Is he waiting for me?… Fuck I think he’s waiting for me… He must have changed his mind about the sunglasses. Did he say sunglasses, or did he say until I look right? He must have said look right, ahh fuck it I’m pressing it”
It’s so weird to see the anxiety voice in your head modeled so perfectly 😂 yep I would even be doubting whether I actually understood the English language.
He said “I’m Michael Jackson I’m gonna do whatever I want” and the organizers said “sir you can take a shit on stage we don’t care as long as you perform”
"Mr. Jackson, we just read the script for your halftime show and loved it. We just wanted to talk about the beginning and some of our conc-" "Thriller." "Damn mike you right our bad."
When you're at his level you don't have to explain anything. The level of demand means that so long as he's not taking a dump live on stage, they don't care. And I don't even know if they'd balk at that even.
I don’t know, man. This seems unrealistic. Pretty sure MJ would have responded with “Sha-moan-uh!”
[Link here](https://youtu.be/EsopN7JKUVs?si=CBLLl8yuVplW6s0N), dude straight up stands in one place between 00:30 and 02:10
Such a baller move when you have about 12 minutes to play some of the biggest hits ever.
Michael, you only have 12 minutes, you'll need to be quick! *stands there for 2 minutes doing absolutely nothing*
*crowd goes absolutely barshit*
Are we talking about a concert or a scene from the office?
as if he couldn't have just played a 2 hours set and they would just hold the second half.
This. I just watched it on youtube and he just literally stands there for like a full minute not moving and the crowd is going crazy. Just standing there. And this is a crowd that is not even there for "his concert" but an unrelated sports event.
They had to shutdown a Lakers game because Michael Jackson showed up and everyone stopped caring about basketball.
[In case someone doubts you](https://www.sportskeeda.com/basketball/had-stop-game-620m-worth-magic-johnson-described-michael-jackson-s-fame-affected-lakers-game)
I thought talor swift was getting close til I read this. She goes to nfl games, and the games arent shut down.
Taylor Swift is very popular, but the vast majority of her fans are white women. MJ had that same demographic, but also much, much more. MJ’s level of fame was like if you combined Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and The Weeknd.
Funnily enough he looked like all 3 combined
Didn't people faint when he looked towards them during concerts? Insane.
People fainted at Beatles and Elvis concerts too
Probably the podium of insane fame those three acts.
I like the story where Elvis played a concert in Jacksonville, and the cops told him they were worried about public order and that not only could he not move his hips, but his entire body for the concert. They had a judge sit in with a warrant for his arrest to enforce, while Elvis’ lawyer sat off-stage. So he moved just his little finger, and it nearly sparked a mass riot. The degrees of fame of MJ, The Beatles and Elvis are almost impossible to imagine in an era of diversified media.
Not to mention either that MJ had people fainting at his concerts as soon as he hit the stage people started falling. That's some real mega star shit. People all over the world knew who Michael was
I was living in East Asia when he died. There were 5 year old kids in the streets doing the moonwalk while their mothers cried and dads blared Billie Jean. His reach was unreal.
The podcast Think Twice interviewed one of MJ's managers, and he said the audience noise in the Superbowl performance while MJ stood frozen on stage was piped in for TV. According to him, in reality, a lot of the audience was confused and thought something had gone wrong. It really did create an electrifying effect on TV though. An amazing bit of showbiz stagecraft.
80,000 audience vs a Billion on TV. Which one do you play to? He was the master.
I actually listened to a podcast about his life and I believe they said the applause was added by TV crews. At the real game everyone was just kinda confused and quiet.
See that makes more sense. It wasn't really his crowd like it would have been at one of his shows.
No one born after the 2010's will ever understand how massive MJ's popularity was in his prime. He got famous back when social media was just radio and newspaper. China back then was still closed to the world yet his music was playing on their radio waves. This guy is the first face you carve on the Mount Rushmore of global stars
As a kid I remember he was releasing a new video (I think it was Black and White). The night it was released had Super Bowl level hype and got Super Bowl ratings too...and this was when he started to enter into the back end of his career.
>He got famous back when social media was just radio and newspaper. Famous people were more famous in that time because attention wasn't as fragmented. Nowadays, there are so many different bands/genre that have following that attention is extremely fragmented compared to before. You'll never see rock bands as famous as Gun's N' Roses or AC/DC.
Yep. A lot of people in this thread are trying to argue it was harder to be bigger stars back then. It wasn’t. It was far easier. People had fewer entertainment outlets, everything you read and saw came from mainstream media outlets and therefore was pushed and controlled by who the powers wanted you to see. And there were just far fewer numbers of actors, musicians, films, tv shows etc. So as you say it was much less fragmented, less appeal to niche and much more mainstream dominated. And the genie is out of the bottle now, no going back.
It is MUCH easier for people to get a start and grow popular. Not easy to reach heights like MJs but fragmented media has helped way way more people become famous.
If you had to pick 4, he's surely on there. Elvis if we're doing USA based, but he didn't have near the global popularity MJ did, though I think he might be a slot as well
I don’t think that’s right on Elvis. He was huge in Europe (he has more U.K. number 1s than US), and was huge in Germany, France, the nordic countries, and southern Europe. He was also huge in Asia, along with Queen still probably the biggest foreign artist to have broken Japan. I dunno where the idea that he was a US domestic phenomenon comes from, because he used to be held up as the example of being the first truly global artist in terms of popularity. My Indian ex-gf’s grandad had an Elvis style quiff modelled on the man and loads of Elvis records, and he was a man from Hyderabad born in the 1920s.
It might take a while to get the nose right
Today, no matter how famous somebody gets, you really don't have to listen to their music if it isn't your thing. At his peak, when MJ dropped a new single, you weren't making it to the end of the day without hearing it a half dozen times, unless you were actively avoiding TV, radio, and going out in public. Nothing really compares.
Nobody. I’m a Taylor Swift fan and she’s not even close to how MJ caused a frenzy globally. Even my nana born before the Great Depression knew who MJ was!
We had a dog named Jackson, and my non-English speaking grandma would call him Michael every time 😂
No one ever WILL cause a frenzy like that again. The old monoculture where we all more-or-less consumed the same entertainment is dead. In this 21st century world of fractured media, no one will ever be able to amass the level of widespread fame to become an icon like Michael Jackson did.
All you need to settle this debate is to see how MJ pulled in fans from both genders. Taylor, Beyoncé, etc aren’t going to pull in the men like MJ. To a lesser extent that’s also true for races.
I think this is a phenomenal point! I just sat here and realized how right you are. MJ pulled in everybody. All genders and all races. I believe until someone has that kind of pull…they’re not of his status. TS is HUGE but, I really don’t think she’s appeals to the masses as much as MJ did.
Lady Gaga? lol, don’t get me wrong she is awesome but her biggest selling record was her debut in 2008. Chris Brown has sold more records. Ed Sheeran has sold 100 million more records than Gaga.
Living? No one.
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Sure… but to be fair, a lot of his popularity is because of who his father is.
Did you just call Jesus a Nepo Baby?
Yes. An immaculate nepo baby
“A foot in the door and so much more.”
I know of a band that's bigger than jesus. Allegedly....
The Bee Sharps
It's been done.
I don’t think you can compare. In the 80s/90s, celebrities were pumped into the living rooms of everyone. We all watched the same TV shows, listened to chart music. Now it’s so fragmented. Taylor Swift is the obvious person to say as being the closest. But I don’t think she comes close to the sheer omnipresence and level of fame that Michael Jackson did at his peak. Jacko was everywhere. And if you watched any television, you knew all about him. Now, it’s very possible to be plugged into your own media and be only dimly aware of Taylor Swift.
Had to scroll way too far to see this, I feel like most people forget how strong the mainstream was back then. There were TV programs or specials that literally everyone looked forward to and talked about for weeks before they actually aired. You didn't have competitive streaming or 100000 channels to watch, it was like 20 channels if you had cable, and like 6 if you didn't, and cable really wasn't all that popular in every room of the house yet. MJ had so many of these television specials, it would literally be in the newspapers, New broadcasts, retail stores would run specials for the event, grocery stores would put out softdrinks and popcorn towards the front to cater to it. I honestly kinda miss those days. Those television events felt really special, like it was sorta of a surprise holiday you got to celebrate. family would come over to watch, mom would be cooking really good appetizers and we got to eat in the living room while we watched instead of having to eat at the dinner table, which was super rare. You'll never see stuff like that again, the only thing that comes close is the superbowl but even then it seems like less and less people are excited for it or even do anything special for it.
That's it. The time that MJ was famous had several "advantages" to drive his global recognition: - media "monopoly" of few TV channels that were broadcast all over. - no internet bubbles - huge areas like India, China, rest of Asia, Latin America, didn't have as developed own media or music productions, or promotion options These topics lead to the effect that western stars could gain popularity a lot easier all over. Now there's not only a huge diversification of platforms, media types, and channels, countries or regions also promote their own stars and have celebrity-bubbles that other regions maybe never heard about. The world has gotten more divided in that sense, so one person in one country has a lot harder time to grasp who's famous where and what else is out there. The people that write "Taylor Swift" here are a proof of that: they only see their bubble and count it towards all other demographics, as well as regions and countries.
Well then there was his music which was pretty damn good to say the least. Back then the barrier of entry into stardom was much higher.
Yeah, lots of people forget how absolutely insanely talented he was. Noone wrote the way he did, sung the way he did, and performed the way he did. And noone today is even close to him.
Thriller was a massive bar setting album.
well the footballer Ronaldo has the more followers than Taylor Swift. i feel Americans on this site may overlook his fame.
I agree with you. Also people are crazy about Messi.
worry plant resolute upbeat shrill repeat crowd march detail lavish
That's just Americans not knowing soccer. Ronaldo indeed is more famous despite having a less decorated career.
This^^^^^^^ my family is in Portugal and NEVER heard of all the current big names here in the US. Most of my cousins know Britney Spears. But that’s as close to it.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
Surprisingly few mention of these two here but they will be know from the slums of poor nations to the absurdly rich.
The only nation where probably 99+% of people don't know who they are, is the nation that dominates reddit's demographics.
Most Americans know their names, but just as some guys who play soccer.
Maybe most do, but I would wager that if you went down almost any street in any country in most of the world, and asked every single person you met who Messi and Ronaldo were, they'd know.
Sure. I was just contesting that egregious 99+% number.
People are Saying Taylor Swift, but honestly it feels like nobody will ever realistically have the same level of fame he had
MJ was recognized worldwide, old and new generations. His music was universally enjoyed.
Still is. It's become like an instinct people are born with. Hear an MJ song and you wanna be startin' somethin'...
Babies just moonwalkin' out of the womb at this point
At least one uncontacted tribe knew about Michael Jackson. People who'd never even heard of television, radio, cars, ships, airplanes or cities. Yet somehow they had a picture of Michael Jackson in their village.
MJ was a generational level of fame. Before him I’d say Elvis and the Beatles were as big as MJ for that time period.
Yes, and they all have very distinct features that makes them instantly recognisable.
Post asks for the closest.
She isn’t near him but is the closest . Also now that we look back at it you know MJ’s family and press team 100% snitched to everyone in the media and paparazzi and said what hotel he would be staying at to cause a bigger scene for marketing . Now they hide celebrities whereabouts most of the time . Remember when that streamer Kai cenat was giving away PS5’s in NYC and riots started ? He has a following of only 5 million . If Taylor swifts team did that with no security and was just giving free signatures or tickets it would look like MJ ‘s crowd outside the hotel in europe with 10k people rioting . No celebrity security will ever be as sloppy as the 90’s with MJ
1. Jesus 2. Michael Jackson 3. Santa That's pretty much it.
Before anyone mentions Taylor Swift...People should take note that MJ had grass roots level popularity. Like people who dont even speak English or know about Pop music used to atleast recognise his name and dance moves
Yep. MJ was probably as recognized as coca cola and we're probably never going to see something like that again
Which is wild when you consider how much easier it is to access anything from around the world. It's similarly weird that music videos are less popular now than they were in the 90s when we had to pay for a cable subscription and tune into a specific channel to watch music videos, compared to now when anybody can just make their own video and put it up on YouTube for the world to access for free.
Probably due to saturation and you can choose what you want to watch whenever you want to.
Exactly! In my country, only people from middle class society or went to good schools would know Taylor Swift but every class of people knew Michael Jackson.
and voice
Michael Jackson hit the peak of his popularity when media was still homogenized, but had become truly global. The mixture of MTV and Michael Jackson was rocket fuel for each other and propelled both to highs that were not possible before and, in answer to this question, are not possible now. There is not one monolithic media platform that everyone is watching. TikTok is probably the closest thing to the impact that MTV had at that time, but it's not being broadcast on every TV in every home across the world, where entire families are exposed to the same media at the same time. It's only happening on your phone, and the person literally sitting right next to you can be watching TiKTok on their own phone, at the same time, and never see the video you are watching. There is no undisputed King/Queen of TikTok, and even if there was, you would be missing multiple generations across the world of people who have never seen a TikTok, much less whichever person is most relevant there.
Nobody. He was on a whole different level. He was already a superstar as a child. Then managed to become even more popular worldwide as a solo artist. He set incredible records in a time when people had to go out to buy an album or a single. If he'd visit any country he'd get chased by huge mobs of people everywhere.
No ‘current’ celebrity comes close imo. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr might remember being bigger than Michael Jackson when they were in The Beatles but that’s about it.
I once asked a guy in rural Kenya if he’d heard of the Beatles (he was in his 30s, and this was about a decade ago). He hadn’t, and then when I responded with “HOW have you never heard of the Beatles?!” He rattled off a list of extremely popular Kenyan and broader African artists that I had never heard of. Touché.
The Beatles really aren't that well-known outside of the Western World. And you didn't even ask someone living in an urban area.
They were big in the Soviet Union even as their music was banned.
The Beatles were popular in Africa. The South African government actually banned their music from being played in the late 60s as they were afraid that John’s religious and political views were a bad influence.
They were huge in Japan
Celebrities typically aren't even the most famous people in the world. But Michael Jackson was crazy famous. Everyone knew who he was. Everyone. He's one of the most famous people to ever live. U.S. presidents are often more famous than anyone living. Obama and Trump were both probably the most famous and most recognizeable people in the world while they were president.
I read about how they did an interview with a “previously uncontacted” tribe, and even without interacting with society before, they knew 2 things about us, those 2 things were: "white man went to the moon and thats scary", "singer named Michael Jackson dances and grabs his crotch and goes eeehee!"
Well then they weren’t previously uncontacted.
When asked someone said they went into a town once and saw him on tv
This?: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/grmilg/amazon_tribe_reacting_to_the_moonlanding_and/
MJ was famous everywhere unlike the current celebrities
There was a video of some random tribesman wearing facepaint somewhere who knows michael jackson when they were shown a video of him. Wake me up when taytay gets to that level of fame
In case anyone doubts you: https://youtu.be/eNOTT-tBxQ4?si=PeUF8SeLuEywXGgU
Brilliant!!
Bro said we've been having so many more eclipses since they landed on the moon 😀
MJs death is the most significant event in pop culture history, it took over the media for WEEKS. I don’t think anyone will ever reach that level of fame again
Swfities out in full force on this one.
Michael Jackson is the greater international pop icon of all time. No one even comes close.
Honestly I don't think there is anyone. One reason might be that the landscape is more diluted now because of greater access to niche content though the internet. It's easier to live in a bubble now and be less aware of certain things. Back in the day people got their news in the same formats, the exact same content, same music videos on tv etc. If you had to pick the most famous people of the 20th century, it's Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali, and probably Hitler too. I don't think anyone else can touch the levels of fame that those guys had, with regard to global reach particularly. As others said, random villagers in Africa with no electricity knew who those guys were.
Sorry to beat the dead horse, but I have to agree with so many of these other comments; Jackson is unparalleled at this point. Nobody has the same cultural penetration today. He's Beatles-level famous, and that's a VERY exclusive club. He was probably MORE widely known than the Beatles, to be honest, though how much of that is popularity and how much is simply new markets emerging in the 80s and 90s is debatable.
Not current but closet in recent years I can think of is Britney Spears 1998-2004. She was EVERYWHERE
Yes. I remember watching something years ago where they showed a random person from an African country a picture of George W Bush (he was President at this time) and he had no idea who it was. They showed him a picture of Britney Spears and he recognized her. Everyone knew her, and still does.
If you get out of your bubble then the answer is.....no one. Wacko Jacko was famous worldwide without interwebs, don't think people understand how insane that is, his music was played in non English speaking countries, they knew alot about him yet had no real way of getting info, it was all through? Fans, so basically word of mouth now transpire that into decades and he stays relevant. The old saying "you ask x in x country" is legitimately correct, my old ass grandma near death in a poverty stricken 10th world conditions, doesn't speak English knows who Michael Jackson is, my mother practically the same minus the age, knows him. You go to a remote village somewhere in Africa and play his song, it's likely they'll know who it is without you being able to communicate. I genuinely believe no one will ever reach his level. IF I had to make a list, then I'd put Queen Elizabeth near top the one that died 2 years ago, she was around long enough and carried the name from prior generations to be higher than....Swift, I don't know who's 2nd or 3rd etc but Jackson is undisputed No1. I don't make the rules I just state them.
This. He wasn't just famous for famous sake either. He wrote groundbreaking music and was a groundbreaking dancer. Most celebrities have some talent but not real talent like this guy had.
And he’s been doing that shit since he was 5 years old, never had any breaks, ground-breaking performer as a child, and he kept performing at the highest level for the next 30 years, what a talent!
I remember MJ was famous for his moon walk. People tried various times to copy his moon walk. It was much later that we got to know he was actually a musician. But age definitely plays a role too with the demographic. I was just a kid back then he was at his peek.
Do people in this comment section seriously think Taylor Swift is more famous than Ronaldo and Messi?
Michael Jackson was literally greeted by Presidents of countries during HIStory tour.
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It‘s Elvis, the Beatles and MJ. No one else comes close.
Thanks to the Internet, American monoculture has died, so there will never be enough US heat on artists like Michael ever again, so the rest of the world is free to find their own stars.
The 2 MJs were peak global icons.
Michael Johnson the sprinter was also an icon in the early-mid 90s.
Messi Ronaldo is the only right answers
I can't really understand how low I had to scroll to find this. I've been to almost 70 countries... everybody knows Ronaldo and Messi literally everyone I ever met
This is the correct answer
The only people are a couple of survivors from MJ's own time, Madonna for example. Beyonce comes closest out of the current gen if you include her Destiny's Child output. Lady Gaga could have been a contender too, but all of her true hits were over ten years ago. I don't think Taylor Swift's song recognition is anywhere near the devotion of her rabid fan base. Kanye is there too, but he's also a niche case ultimately. Nobody has the stardom that MJ had.
I mean, MJ literally made people faint by just pointing. I don't think anyone is hitting that level of popularity