King Of Pop Michael Jackson has been dominating the United States air waves following his death, with the star’s music receiving a massive jump in air play.
Michael Jackson occupied a unique place in the pantheon of American pop music. Coming of age in the Motown hit factory, he had as his teachers the likes of Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross and many more.
His family’s group The Jackson 5 scored record breaking hits before Michael Jackson reached his teens. Coming of age, the singer hooked up with producer Quincy Jones to record the earth shattering albums ‘Off The Wall’, ‘Thriller’ and ‘Bad’.
One of the most successful recording stars in the history of the music industry, Michael Jackson was a global icon whose use of the moving image broke new ground and helped pave the way for the stars of today.
Passing away suddenly on Thursday (June 25th) the icon left behind countless fans. Since then, Jackson’s music has become an ever present soundtrack in our lives – booming out of shops, cars and especially from the radio.
Jackson smashed back into the British charts over the weekend. The singer currently occupies 43 positions in the Top 200 singles, with his collection ‘Number Ones’ sitting at pole position in the album charts.
Over in the United States the charts have yet to be released, but the singer has dominated the air waves. Michael Jackson’s songs have jumped 1735% in airplay since his death, with statistics from Nielsen BDS showing that the singer was at the top of the charts.
US show business magazine Billboard reports that Jackson’s songs jumped 3,671 plays on the previous week while 22 of his songs were played more than 1000 times. Iconic hit ‘Billie Jean’ tops the charts, which is dominated by his solo era.
The Top Ten most played songs since June 25th in the United States include some newer tracks alongside the classics. ‘Thriller’ rolls in at second, while synth-funk extravaganza ‘Wanna Be Starting Something’ also sits in the Top Ten.
The most played songs were:
1. ‘Billie Jean’ 4,540
2. ‘Thriller’ 3,570
3. ‘Rock With You’ 3,546
4. ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’ 3,135
5. ‘P.Y.T’ 2,986
6. ‘Beat It’ 2,852
7. ‘Man In the Mirror’ 2,827
8. ‘Wanna Be Starting Somethin’ 2,493
9. ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ 2,387
10.’ Human Nature’ 2,175
