Michael Jackson

Music has been my outlet, my gift to all of the lovers in this world…Through it, my music, I know I will live forever.”

–Michael Jackson

In an era when 15 minutes of fame is considered significant, and one news cycle is impressive, Michael Jackson captured the imagination for four decades. The talent. The energy. The philanthropy. The magic. He inspired and epitomized joy. Never one to rest on his laurels, the highly-decorated Jackson ruled pop culture for much of his life.

• Michael Jackson earned an estimated $1.1 billion during his adult solo career—nearly $2 billion when adjusting for inflation, according to Forbes.
• One of the few artists to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice (1997, 2001)
• 39 Guinness World Records—including one for “Most Successful Entertainer of All Time”
• 13 Grammy Awards, including eight Grammys in one glorious historic night, as well as the Grammy Legend Award and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
• 17 Billboard Music Awards, 26 American Music Awards, 1 Golden Globe
• 16 World Music Awards and the estimated sale of up 1 billion units worldwide.
• Countless awards for his humanitarian endeavors, including from Presidents Reagan and H. W. Bush; contributed a reported $300 million to charitable causes
• Artist of “the Decade” (by President George H.W. Bush in 1990), “Generation” (by the Brit Awards in 1996), “Century” (American Music Awards in 2002), and “Millennium” (Bambi Awards in 2002)
• Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002
• Inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame; the first (and currently only) dancer from pop and rock ‘n’ roll.
• Won hundreds of other awards, making him the most awarded recording artist in the history of popular music

• Five of his solo studio albums became some of the world’s best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995), the best-selling multiple-disc release
• Jackson 5’s first four singles, including “I Want You Back”, “ABC”, “The Love You Save” and “I’ll Be There” went No. 1. Consider that by the time MICHAEL JACKSON was 12, he already had four No. 1’s, more than such artists as Aerosmith (1), Coldplay (1), the Carpenters (3), Dr Dre (3) and even Frank Sinatra (3) and as many as the Beach Boys (4) achieved in their entire career. The youngest artist (age 11 years, 155 days) to top the Hot 100, achieved as part of the Jackson 5, with “I Want You Back” on January 31, 1970. 13 number-one hits (as a solo artist)
• With 37 weeks at No. 1, Thriller’s success literally reinvigorated the entire music industry. Thriller has remained in the discussion as the biggest selling album of all time with estimated sales of 65.8 million. (Most Top 10 singles (7) from a single album)
• Bad (1987), No. 1 album for 8 weeks (six Top 10 singles, most number-ones (5) from a single album—tied with Katy Perry)
• Thriller is the best-selling international studio album ever in Canada, the UK, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium
• Thriller is the best-selling English-speaking Brazil, Mexico and Argentina
• At 5.29 million and 5.12 million, Thriller and Dangerous are the top 2 best-selling international artist albums ever in Asia
• At 19.34 million and 15.14 million, Thriller and Bad are the top 2 best-selling studio albums ever in Europe
• Through Transformative Short Films, Michael Jackson brought a Hollywood sensibility to what previously were just promotional videos.
• Hugely successful use of TV to promote his music, tours and brand, including performances at the 1988 Grammys and the (1993) Super Bowl show and Oprah Winfrey sit-down (the highest rated interview of all time)
• The Thriller short film marked an increase in scale for music videos, and has been named the most successful music video ever by the Guinness World Records.
• The Library of Congress described it as “the most famous music video of all time”. In 2009, it became the first music video inducted into the National Film Registry as “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant.
• Black or White short film (1991) debuted simultaneously in 27 countries, with a reported audience of 500 million (the highest ever for a film video). 
• First solo world tour began on September 12, 1987, in Tokyo, Japan. Attracting over 4 million people, including royalty, the Bad Tour proved to be successful, becoming the most-highly attended and highest-earning tour of all time.
• The follow-up concert series—the Dangerous World Tour of 1992–1993—was also attended by millions. The Dangerous World Tour concluded in Mexico City, Mexico with 5 sold out shows for over 500,000 people with the last show on November 11, 1993.
• In 1996, Jackson embarked on the HIStory World Tour, an 82 run of concerts that concluded the following year. The tour was attended by more than 4.5 million fans. It was the most attended tour of all times by any artist, having grossed over $165 million. The average concert attendance was 54,878.
• Michael Jackson was the first international pop star to perform in post-Soviet Russia. Vladimir Ivanenko, General Producer for Russia’s Retro FM station told CNN that “For Russians, America was like another planet and Michael Jackson was the king of that planet … (He) was seen as the face of the crazy American life.”
• The Super Bowl performance 1993 still referred to as the greatest of all time. Ratings actually went up during the halftime show of a one-sided game; MICHAEL JACKSON changed the event forever.
• This Is It tickets for the first 10 concerts sold out in less than an hour and the public demand resulted in 40 more concerts being added to the schedule, resulting in 50 concerts in total. The Guardian called it an “astonishing comeback.” The promoter said: “We cut it off on the public on sale at fifty shows. There were 225,000 to 250,000 people still queued up… We probably could have done 200 shows.”
• Michael Jackson embraced the concept of cross-over success to a whole new level. His performances reached virtually all demographics, which was hugely important to his and the industry’s commercial success. He also promoted racial harmony at his concerts through his music. In January 1980, 21-year-old Michael Jackson in his typically unpretentious style, described to ABC’s Sylvia Chase what he loved most about performing for his adoring fans: “when they’re all holding hands and everybody’s rocking, all kinds of people are there…all races, it’s the most wonderful thing and politicians can’t even do that.”
• On the KC stop on the Victory Tour, Newsweek’s reported: “It was Michael Jackson’s kind of crowd – mothers with toddlers, teenagers with parents, blacks and whites together, low-key, sober and friendly.”
• His short films were simply too good to be overlooked. Their entry into the MTV rotation opened doors for other black artists and has prompted the reference to Jackson being the “Jackie Robinson of MTV.”
• Michael Jackson took on social causes in unusual circumstances. For “They Don’t Care About Us”, he and director Spike Lee went to Salvador da Bahia and the Rio de Janeiro favela Dona Marta – in 1996, a center of drug activity that would be literally transformed by the colorful performance clip. “This process to make Dona Marta better started with Michael Jackson,” said Claudia Silva, press liaison for Rio’s office of tourism. “There are no drug dealers anymore, and there’s a massive social project. But all the attention started with Michael Jackson.”
• In 1984, while filming a Pepsi Cola commercial, Jackson suffered second degree burns to his scalp after pyrotechnics accidentally set his hair on fire. PepsiCo settled a lawsuit out of court, and Jackson gave his $1.5 million settlement to the “Michael Jackson Burn Center,” which was a piece of new technology to help people with severe burns.
• In 1985, he and Lionel Richie co-wrote the highly-acclaimed charity single “We Are the World,” which was released worldwide to aid the poor in Africa and the US. Performed by 39 music celebrities including Jackson, the single became one of the best-selling singles of all time, with nearly 20 million copies sold and millions of dollars donated to famine relief.
• Jackson founded the “Heal the World” charity in 1992…to provide medicine to children and fight world hunger, homelessness, child exploitation and abuse. Jackson stated that he wanted “to improve the conditions for children throughout the world”.
• All profits from the Dangerous World Tour spanning 1992 and 1993 went to the “Heal the World Foundation”, raising millions of dollars in relief.
• During the Super Bowl halftime show, he performed “Heal the World,” with the assistance of a choir of 750 people and a flash card display involving 98,000 volunteers. Jackson again donated his entire fees to the foundation, with the NFL also donating $100,000 and a 30-second TV spot to push for contributions.
• His mother Katherine spoke of her son’s tireless efforts: I know he’ll be remembered as the artist he was. But a lot of people misunderstood him. They didn’t know Michael loved life. He loved people. And he gave so much to charity. And he always loved to give to the people that didn’t have, even since he was a little kid about six or seven years old.  I always remember Michael laying on the floor watching TV, and him crying as he’s absorbing the images of little black kids with flies around their mouths. And he was telling me — he said mommy, one day, I’m going to do something about this.
• In all, Michael Jackson gave over $300 Million to charity.
• While Michael Jackson wasn’t the only celebrity to use his fame for good, he was one of the most influential. Today, celebrities everywhere use their social media followings and fandom to raise awareness to the causes that matter to them — and they have Michael Jackson to thank for it.
• He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock ‘n’ roll.