Artist · chart history · #126 in indie & aaa artist polls
Michael Jackson
Solo artist Gary United States “King of Pop”
Michael Jackson is an artist from Gary. Michael Jackson has 85 chart appearances on 30 radio countdowns from 11 stations on RockLists, spanning 1988–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Billie Jean”, which appears on 17 lists with a best position of #6. The station that charted Michael Jackson most often is WXPN (Philadelphia, PA), with 18 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1988.
Michael Jackson had already been a star for more than half his life by the time he went solo in earnest. Born in Gary in 1958, the eighth of 10 children, he was six when he started out as the lead singer of the Jackson 5, and he cut solo sides for Motown too, including Got to Be There and his reading of "Ain't No Sunshine".
Off the Wall, in 1979, was the declaration of independence: slick, sparkling disco-funk with "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You", and a voice that could hiccup, purr and soar in the same breath. Thriller, in 1982, went further than anyone had any right to go, and it became the best-selling album in history. "Billie Jean" stalks on a bassline like a heartbeat, "Beat It" drags hard rock onto the dance floor, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and "P.Y.T." bounce, and "Thriller" is pure B-movie fun. The videos for "Thriller", "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" changed what music videos could be, and the moonwalk went global. Bad, in 1987, became the first album to produce 5 number-one singles in the US, "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror" and "Dirty Diana" among them.
From the mid-'80s his private life came under fierce scrutiny, including child sexual abuse allegations; he settled one case out of court and was acquitted at trial in 2005. He died in 2009 while preparing a run of comeback concerts.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Michael Jackson on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Billie Jean | 17 | #6 | – | – | |
| 2 | Thriller | 17 | #14 | – | – | |
| 3 | Beat It | 10 | #61 | – | – | |
| 4 | Don't Stop Til You Get Enough | 7 | #123 | – | – | |
| 5 | Man In The Mirror | 8 | #146 | – | – | |
| 6 | Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' | 4 | #208 | – | – | |
| 7 | Rock with You | 5 | #155 | – | – | |
| 8 | Bad | 3 | #93 | – | – | |
| 9 | Smooth Criminal | 3 | #476 | – | – | |
| 10 | Black or White | 1 | #132 | – | – | |
| 11 | The Way You Make Me Feel | 2 | #392 | – | – | |
| 12 | Ain't No Sunshine | 1 | #499 | – | – | |
| 13 | P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing) | 1 | #520 | – | – | |
| 14 | Dirty Diana | 2 | #30 | – | 1988 | |
| 15 | Scream | 1 | #331 | – | – | |
| 16 | Pretty Young Thing | 1 | #81 | – | – | |
| 17 | I Just Can't Stop Loving You | 1 | #407 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Featured on
Songs by other artists credited with Michael Jackson as a guest.
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about Michael Jackson.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.