Music: Happy Birthday Michael Jackson
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Aug 29 2011, 2:08 PM
Today, our sister site Komplicated paid tribute to an American musical institution:
It's quite possible that the world will never see another musician, another performer ... another phenomenon like Michael Joseph Jackson. In the 1980s, three words were applied to him that both lauded his life and bracketed him in inescapable scrutiny: "king of pop." Let's just hit the statistics, to get warmed up.
- Michael Jackson is considered "the most successful entertainer of all time" by the Guinness Book of World Records.
- His sixth solo album Thriller was released in 1982 and is still the best selling album of all time clocking in at (at least) 110 million copies sold. He also secured the highest royalty rate in the industry prior to releasing it, 37 percent of wholesale album profit. Go on, do the math. We'll wait.
- With his work on that album, he redefined the music video as a major artifact of pop music, helping springboard a fledgling cable network called MTV to international relevance.
- He's been inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame twice. Once apparently wasn't enough.
- He's the first and only dancer from the world of pop or rock to be inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame.
- He's won more American Music Awards than anyone (26).
- He has 13 number one singles in the US to match his 13 Grammy Awards.
- He's sold an estimated 750 million record worldwide.
- He was the owner of the ATV Music Publishing library, holding the copyrights on almost 4,000 songs, including most of the ones by Lennon and McCartney as the Beatles.
- Finally this year, Katy Perry tied his record of having five #1 singles off of one album.
For more, check out the entire article, originally posted on Komplicated.
Also, for a special mix of Michael Jackson's music, put together in part by Spike Lee, along with literally dozens more free MP3s, please check Komplicated's #musicmonday coverage.
More on Geekweek
Today, our sister site Komplicated paid tribute to an American musical institution:
It's quite possible that the world will never see another musician, another performer ... another phenomenon like Michael Joseph Jackson. In the 1980s, three words were applied to him that both lauded his life and bracketed him in inescapable scrutiny: "king of pop." Let's just hit the statistics, to get warmed up.
- Michael Jackson is considered "the most successful entertainer of all time" by the Guinness Book of World Records.
- His sixth solo album Thriller was released in 1982 and is still the best selling album of all time clocking in at (at least) 110 million copies sold. He also secured the highest royalty rate in the industry prior to releasing it, 37 percent of wholesale album profit. Go on, do the math. We'll wait.
- With his work on that album, he redefined the music video as a major artifact of pop music, helping springboard a fledgling cable network called MTV to international relevance.
- He's been inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame twice. Once apparently wasn't enough.
- He's the first and only dancer from the world of pop or rock to be inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame.
- He's won more American Music Awards than anyone (26).
- He has 13 number one singles in the US to match his 13 Grammy Awards.
- He's sold an estimated 750 million record worldwide.
- He was the owner of the ATV Music Publishing library, holding the copyrights on almost 4,000 songs, including most of the ones by Lennon and McCartney as the Beatles.
- Finally this year, Katy Perry tied his record of having five #1 singles off of one album.
For more, check out the entire article, originally posted on Komplicated.
Also, for a special mix of Michael Jackson's music, put together in part by Spike Lee, along with literally dozens more free MP3s, please check Komplicated's #musicmonday coverage.
More on Geekweek
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