Michael Jackson during his three-city “HIStory” world tour in South Africa in 1997. Picture: Instagram.
The “King of Pop”, Michael Jackson, may not be alive but his music continues to live on.
The legendary music-maker, who died in 2009 at the age of 50, recently made history as the first artist from 20th Century Studios to have five music videos surpassing one billion views each on YouTube.
Jackson’s hit singles, “Billie Jean” has 1.7 billion views, “They Don't Care About Us” and “Beat It” have 1.1 billion views each while “Thriller” and “Smooth Criminal” have 1 billion views each.
Michael Jackson becomes the first artist to have five 20th century music videos surpass 1 billion views each on YouTube:
— chart data (@chartdata) October 23, 2024
Billie Jean
They Don't Care About Us
Beat It
Thriller
Smooth Criminal pic.twitter.com/ut1xkY6Wg0
To commemorate fans’ love for the iconic singer, toy figurine brand, Funko has released a new collectable inspired by Jackson’s “Off the Wall” album.
There’s also an exclusive “Billie Jean”-inspired collectable and a “Smooth Criminal” figurine available on Amazon.
As Jackson continues to break records, his status as a music legend only grows stronger, proving that the King of Pop’s reign is far from over.
Meanwhile, since the death of One Direction star Liam Payne, fans have been streaming the group’s songs non-stop.
For the first time, One Direction had over 50 million monthly listeners on Spotify and their single, Act My Age” surpassed 100 million streams on the music platform.
In other pop-culture news, Lady Gaga's “Government Hooker” and Tyla’s self-titled album and hit single, “Truth or Dare”, have now sold over 500 000 units each in the United States.
Lady Gaga's "Government Hooker" has now sold over 500,000 units in the US. pic.twitter.com/qDs65FIbdi
— chart data (@chartdata) October 24, 2024
Meanwhile, rapper Drake has been announced as the most streamed artist in US history by Chart Data.