Who's the biggest popstar ever: Michael Jackson or Taylor Swift?

[LEWIS540]

Michael Jackson was the most talented 'solo' artist imo (ie we're not including the Beatles), and he sold more certified units than any other 'solo' artist except Rihanna, Eminem and Drake. Presley benefitted from being early in the genre, he wouldn't have had such a big market share otherwise. Michael Jackson is clearly #1 for pop.

On what basis?

Elvis did it when the world population was 2 billion, and without the internet.

Truth be told it’s moot to compare different eras. Consuming music is completely different now than it was 30 years ago let alone 60 years ago.

Like asking what is a bigger film Gone With the Wind vs Star Wars vs Avatar.


Elvis and MJ still make 100m a year, even now. I find it hard to believe Taylor Swift will be doing that in 2075.

 

[Blayt7hh]

Raw number of fans probably swift. But % of the population at their peak I would bet on Jackson.

 

[Kal-El]

MJ and it isn't close

 

[Pliny Pete]

Elvis and MJ still make 100m a year, even now. I find it hard to believe Taylor Swift will be doing that in 2075.

Why is that so hard to believe?

 

[LEWIS540]

Why is that so hard to believe?

Quality of the product?

Not gonna lie, don’t know any of her stuff, so might be way off. Pretty out of touch with the modern stuff.

 

[Pliny Pete]

Quality of the product?

Not gonna lie, don’t know any of her stuff, so might be way off. Pretty out of touch with the modern stuff.

She's had a 20 year career, sold over 100 million albums and it takes years for her albums to fall off the Billboard sales charts, you don't achieve that without being insanely talented and putting out quality music

She's achieved all that and is still getting bigger, hasn't peaked yet

I get it, it's easy to dismiss her as a manufactured pop princess if you haven't looked into her career but she's not that at all, this broad is the goods and she'll be around for decades to come

 

[Natural Order]

Jackson, and it's not even close.

 

[LEWIS540]

She's had a 20 year career, sold over 100 million albums and it takes years for her albums to fall off the Billboard sales charts, you don't achieve that without being insanely talented and putting out quality music

She's achieved all that and is still getting bigger, hasn't peaked yet

I get it, it's easy to dismiss her as a manufactured pop princess if you haven't looked into her career but she's not that at all, this broad is the goods and she'll be around for decades to come

Fair play. There is always a balance between art and business.

Give me your favorite song of hers, and I’ll give it a listen. I kinda stopped consuming new music about 15 years ago, so I’m sure there’s a shit load of good stuff that’s passed me buy.

 

[Natural Order]

She's had a 20 year career, sold over 100 million albums and it takes years for her albums to fall off the Billboard sales charts, you don't achieve that without being insanely talented and putting out quality music

She's achieved all that and is still getting bigger, hasn't peaked yet

I get it, it's easy to dismiss her as a manufactured pop princess if you haven't looked into her career but she's not that at all, this broad is the goods and she'll be around for decades to come

I'd like you to reflect on a concept discussed regularly in the fighting world - strength of schedule/competition. It applies here. Michael did his thing in a world drenched in musical talent everywhere you looked. Taylor is simply a marketed hype job in an era of zero creativity or originality. Her music is in no way shape or form technical, profound, game-changing, anything really. It's average music, let's be honest.

 

[Pliny Pete]

Fair play. There is always a balance between art and business.

Give me your favorite song of hers, and I’ll give it a listen. I kinda stopped consuming new music about 15 years ago, so I’m sure there’s a shit load of good stuff that’s passed me buy.

Right after I posted my last post I turned on the morning news and it was talking about how Taylor Swift just tied Elvis Presley's record of 67 weeks at #1 on Billboard
LoL this broad really is everywhere, can't escape her

 

[LEWIS540]

Right after I posted my last post I turned on the morning news and it was talking about how Taylor Swift just tied Elvis Presley's record of 67 weeks at #1 on Billboard
LoL this broad really is everywhere, can't escape her

Tbf, it’s completely different now than in the 60s, right? Streaming is accounted for, right?

Think Wham! were number 1 in the UK this week!

Think they make a big proportion of their revenue from likes of YouTube and Spotify these days which was not a thing 15 years ago let alone 60.

 

[Sweater of AV]

MJ was a global phenomenon. Taylor Swift is immensely popular with young white girls in the social media era. There's no comparison. Hell, I couldn't even name you a Swift song or album whereas everyone at least knew Thriller. To this day, Thriller blows everything out of the water by virtually every metric, especially when adjusted for era.

MJ and Elvis stand alone for the biggest solo artists of all time.

 

[Pliny Pete]

Tbf, it’s completely different now than in the 60s, right? Streaming is accounted for, right?

Think Wham! were number 1 in the UK this week!

Think they make a big proportion of their revenue from likes of YouTube and Spotify these days which was not a thing 15 years ago let alone 60.

1,500 streams equals 1 record sale so when she does 1 million albums in the first week that means that album was listened to 1.5 billion times in one week, that's nothing to sneeze at

 

[Slobodan]

@lsa told me it's Taylor Swift. I think he may be a bit biased because she is his favourite singer of all time.

 

[James Eagle]

Hands down worst thread starter in the berry

Michael changed music, Taylor has a bunch of little girls as fans, Michael had the whole fucking world as fans.

 

[LEWIS540]

1,500 streams equals 1 record sale so when she does 1 million albums in the first week that means that album was listened to 1.5 billion times in one week, that's nothing to sneeze at

Be honest, how many of those 1.5 billion were you?

 

[Pliny Pete]

All you people saying Taylors fans are all little girls must not spend much time around women, grown ass women love Taylor, which is what opened ole Pete's eyes to just how huge she is

 

[Pliny Pete]

Be honest, how many of those 1.5 billion were you?

All of em, ole Pete's a proud Swiftie

 

[lsa]

@lsa told me it's Taylor Swift. I think he may be a bit biased because she is his favourite singer of all time.

He really is.
His cover of Elvis, is some of the best ever.

 

[LEWIS540]

All of em, ole Pete's a proud Swiftie

……but you’re not even a little girl!