Was Michael Jackson really that famous?

[FléauDeDieu]

I mean was he like Top 5 most famous people who ever lived famous?

I remember after he died his funeral being broadcasted on my country's state TV channel, almost like he was some sort of famous foreign leader or something like that.

Talking to his obsessive fans you get the impression he was more famous then The Beatles, Hitler or Einstein, and on par with Jesus Christ.

Like watching this concert of his and people started screaming for over 2 minutes while he just stood still doing nothing.

 

[Milgrim]

Yes.

 

[aunshi189]

Who?

 

[gspieler]

Yes, he was that famous. He is a top-5 selling artist of all time, and one of the most iconic figures in the history of pop culture(Elvis is probably his only equal, in that regard).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists

 

[Brandon Wilson]

 

[Omegaboy13]

Yes he was. Insanely famous. It just doesn't seem like it now because of the controversies surrounding him in his later life

 

[Noveltymortar]

He had more of a cult following among a select few hardcore fans, (kind of like GG Allin for example). Little known fact is that his siblings were also in the music business.

 

[squeezewax]

Yes.

 

[Halifax]

He sold 400 million Albums worldwide. Off the top of my head, the Beatles and Elvis probably are ahead of him there, but that's it

 

[Yoel Bromero]

Yes. Nothing even close to him now bc there are so many people with big followings.

When MJ was on fire he was THE man. He had the world in his palm. It was him on a mountain and everyone else beneath him. Or on top depending on their age and mood.

 

[Yoel Bromero]

He was so beloved parents shipped their kids to his house for sleepovers. Bananas.

 

[lowlife]

Right up there with Jesus.

 

[Get To Da Choppa]

In the late 80s to 90s the three Michaels were the most famous people in the world: Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan and Mike Tyson.

Nowadays he's only the second most famous Michael Jackson on Sherdog

 

[I Am Legion]

He owned the 80s. MTV Videos, Album Sales, Commercials, Tours. He was GLOBAL in a way that most are not. He was a God in Europe and Japan. The debuts of his videos were like a movie release. His fashion and dancing style was all over the world. He did We Are The World, The Superbowl, Victory Tour, and was page 1 news no matter what he did. From having an amusement park, to living with a chimp named bubbles, to being weird with little boys, he was always in the news. Thriller is the biggest album ever....and every album had crazy amounts of number 1's.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Yes. MJ, The Beatles and Elvis are the three biggest artists/groups of all time.

 

[LEWIS540]

You wouldn't believe how many children he touched over the years.

 

[Beechwood]

I get the opinion that MJ is more famous today than when he was alive. Great dance entertainer, some decent songs, but when alive he was a strange guy, having sleep overs with young boys, all the plastic surgery, bleaching his skin,... I just remember when growing up my friends and I thought he was weird.

 

[Dream Evil]

As a kid in the 80's, MJ seemed like a mythological figure. Almost like he was a different form of being than the rest of us. If you weren't around then it's difficult to describe.

 

[MicroBrew]

Yes. Can't think of any other entertainer on the same level for global fame. Madonna is the closest.
As the guy above me says, if you weren't young in the 80s, it's hard to describe how big he was.

 

[Aegon Spengler]

He was big in every part of the world. They talked about him after hunts in Zimbabwe, he could sell out an arena in any city in the world.