The King of Pop rewrote the record book, but records are made to be broken.
Michael Jackson en concierto alrededor de 1986.
Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Drake made Music Weekly chart history on Monday (Oct. 16) when his latest single “First Person Shooter” (featuring J. Cole) entered the Hot 100 at No. 1. This allowed Drake to tie Michael Jackson’s record as the male solo artist with the most No. 1s (13) in the chart’s 65-year history. This had to have been a big moment for Drake, who landed his first Hot 100 hit, “Best I Ever Had,” in May 2009, just one month before Jackson died.
Drake is known to be a chart-watcher. “I’m one away from Michael,” he boasts in “First Person Shooter” (a boast that became outdated the moment the record hit No. 1). Jackson, who was also an avid chart-watcher, had a similar experience in March 1988 when he landed his 10th No. 1 hit, “Man in the Mirror,” which allowed him to tie Stevie Wonder’s then-record for the most No. 1 hits by a male solo artist. Jackson later added three more No. 1 hits to his tally: “Dirty Diana,” “Black or White” and “You Are Not Alone.”
We should point out that Jackson was the only billed artist on 12 of his 13 No. 1 hits. The exception was “Say Say Say,” on which he had co-equal billing with Paul McCartney. By contrast, Drake has been the only billed artist on just five of his 13 No. 1 hits. He has teamed with credited featured artists on five more. On his remaining three No. 1 hits, Drake was a featured artist behind Rihanna (two hits) and Future (one).
Jackson set many records in his 1980s heyday. We decided to see which of those records he still holds, which he must now share and which have since been broken.
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Most No. 1 Hot 100 hits by a male artist
Shares record with: Drake
Notes: You can read much more about Drake’s record-setting accomplishment here.
Now that Drake has tied Jackson’s record for most No. 1 Hot 100 hits by a male solo artist, what worlds are left to conquer? If he amasses six more No. 1s, he’ll tie Mariah Carey’s mark as the solo artist with the most No. 1s (19). If he amasses seven more, he’ll tie The Beatles’ record for the most No 1s (20) by any artist.
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Most No. 1 Hot 100 hits from one album
Shares record with: Katy Perry
Notes: In July 1988, Bad became the first album to spawn five No. 1 hits on the Hot 100. (The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack had spawned four No. 1 hits in 1977-78 – three by Bee Gees and one by Yvonne Elliman.) Jackson achieved the feat when “Dirty Diana” hit the top spot, following “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Bad,” “The Way You Make Me Feel” and “Man in the Mirror.”
In August 2011, Perry tied Jackson’s record when “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” became the fifth No. 1 from Teenage Dream, following “California Gurls” (featuring Snoop Dogg), “Teenage Dream,” “Firework” and “E.T.” (featuring Kanye West, now Ye).
As you can see, Jackson was the only credited artist on all five of his No. 1s from Bad, while Perry had credited featured artists on two of hers from Teenage Dream.
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Most top 10 Hot 100 hits from one album
Record now held by: Taylor Swift
Notes: In September 1983, Jackson’s Thriller became the first album in history to spawn five top 10 hits on the Hot 100, when “Human Nature” followed “The Girl Is Mine” (a collab with Paul McCartney), “Billie Jean,” “Beat It” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” into the winner’s circle. (Both Jackson’s previous album, Off the Wall and Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 blockbuster Rumours had each spawned four top 10 hits.) Jackson went on to pad his record by scoring a sixth (“P.Y.T.” (Pretty Young Thing)”) and then a seventh (“Thriller”) top 10 hit from Thriller.
But Thriller demonstrated the potential for albums to become perennial hit machines, so other artists were able to replicate his feat. Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA (1984-85), Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989-91) and Drake’s Scorpion (2018) equaled Jackson’s feat of landing seven top 10 hits from an album. Drake’s Certified Lover Boy set a new record of nine top 10 hits in 2021. Taylor Swift’s Midnights upped the record to 10 in 2022.
While they never held the record, two other albums have yielded seven or more top 10 hits on the Hot 100. Drake & 21 Savage’s Her Loss yielded eight top 10 hits in 2022. Drake’s current For All the Dogs spun off seven.
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Non-soundtrack with the most weeks at No. 1 on the Music Weekly 200
Still holds record
Notes: Thriller logged 37 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Music Weekly 200 in 1983-84, which set a new record for an album that wasn’t a soundtrack. (The soundtrack to West Side Story is still the overall leader, with 54 weeks on top in 1962-63.) The old record for non-soundtracks was 31 weeks, shared by Harry Belafonte’s Calypso (1956-57) and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (1977-78).
Thriller’s 37 weeks on top included two streaks where the album was No. 1 for 17 consecutive weeks. It was No. 1 from Feb. 26, 1983 to June 18, 1983, when “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” topped the Hot 100, and again from Dec. 24, 1983 to April 14, 1984, when the “Thriller” video dominated MTV and the album swept the 1984 Grammy nominations and awards. No other album has stayed on top for 17 consecutive weeks twice.
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Album with the most weeks at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Still holds record
Notes: Thriller also logged a record-setting 37 weeks at No. 1 on what is now called Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The old record of 20 weeks on top was shared by Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life (1976-77) and Rick James’ Street Songs (1981).
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Album with the most weeks in the top 10 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Record now held by: Lil Baby’s My Turn
Notes: Thriller set the record with 76 weeks, but that was broken by Post Malone’s Stoney and Beerbongs & Bentleys, each with 77 weeks; his Hollywood’s Bleeding with 84 weeks and Lil Baby’s My Turn, with 85 weeks. My Turn took the lead, which it still holds, in March 2022.
Thriller has since added a few more weeks to its top 10 run and has pulled ahead of Stoney and Beerbongs & Bentleys. With 79 weeks in the top 10, it is now behind only My Turn, which has padded its lead to 125 weeks, and Hollywood’s Bleeding, now at 95 weeks.
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Highest-RIAA-certified album of all time
Record now held by: Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975
Notes: Thriller was the highest-certified album from the time the Recording Industry Assn. of America introduced multiplatinum certifications on Oct. 20, 1984 until Eagles’ hit-studded compilation surpassed it on Nov. 10, 1999. Thriller regained the lead on Dec. 16, 2015, but Eagles pulled ahead again on Aug. 20, 2018. Jackson’s album is currently certified for U.S. shipments of 34 million. The Eagles compilation is at 38 million.
Eagles’ album wasn’t certified multiplatinum until Aug. 21, 1990, when it came in at 12 million. It has zoomed in the years since. You could say the band knows how to take it to the limit.
Thriller remains the highest-certified studio album. In second place, among studio albums: another Eagles album, Hotel California (26 million).
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Most Grammy nominations in one year
Shares record with: Babyface
Notes: Jackson received 12 nominations in 1984, 11 for his work in various capacities on Thriller and one for his work on E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, which was nominated for best recording for children. That surpassed his two-time duet partner Paul McCartney’s old record of nine nominations in 1966.
Babyface equaled Jackson’s feat in 1997. He received seven nods for his work on the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, two for work on Toni Braxton’s Secrets, one for a guest performance on Quincy Jones’ Q’s Jook Joint, one for producing Eric Clapton’s “Change the World” and one for producer of the year.
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Most Grammy Awards in one night
Shares record with: Santana
Notes: Jackson won eight Grammys at the ceremony in February 1984, breaking Paul Simon’s record of seven awards won at the first live telecast in March 1971. (Simon’s record was aided by the fact that, at the time, the Recording Academy awarded two Grammys to artists who also produced or co-produced their winners for album and record of the year.) Jackson won seven of his awards for Thriller and one for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, which won for best recording for children.
Santana equaled Jackson’s feat at the ceremony in February 2000. The band won all eight of their awards for their album Supernatural. Santana won in two of the same categories that Jackson had swept 16 years previously: record of the year and album of the year.
Jackson continues to be the solo artist with the most Grammys won in one night. The awards to Santana were to the band.
Interesting side-note: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial was released on MCA Records, the label connected to Universal Pictures, which distributed the movie. A legal dispute with Epic Records, Jackson’s label, kept the album from realizing its potential. It bubbled under the Music Weekly 200 for six weeks, but never charted, and was ultimately pulled. So, was making that album a waste of time for Jackson? Hardly. If he hadn’t recorded the album, he would have won just seven Grammys, which would have tied the old record, but not set a new one.
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Top-grossing music documentary
Record now held by: Justin Bieber
Notes: Jackson’s 2009 film This Is It set a new record as the top grossing music doc with a gross of $72.1 million. That far eclipsed Madonna: Truth or Dare, by Jackson’s 1991 date to the Oscar telecast, which grossed $15 million in 1991. But Jackson held the record just briefly, before it was narrowly eclipsed by Justin Bieber: Never Say Never in 2011, with a gross of $73 million. Those are currently the top two music docs of all time, according to boxofficemojo.com.
Among all documentaries (music and non-music), This Is It is currently in fourth place, behind two non-music docs – Fahrenheit 9/11 ($119.1 million) and March of the Penguins ($77.4 million) – and the aforementioned Bieber concert doc ($73 million). Boxofficemojo.com does not list Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, which is strictly performance-based, as a documentary.
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