Billboard Top 100 says #1 Checkers Far Exceeds #71 MJackson: 2 Month Memorial in Works for Chubs?

Bloggers & Personal ^ | 7 Jul 09 | Xzins

[xzins]

Forever it seems.

Forever we've listened to Michael Jackson tripe. It's trite and it's incredibly stupid...in the sense of "stupor inducing." It ignores face bleaching, nose trimming, pedophilia, and lying about fathering children.

We're told: "Greatest this and greatest that." I just read that some representative in our US Congress stated that Jackson "changed the world."

If so, how come not one of his own songs is in Billboard's top 50 of all time? How come it takes us all the way to #71 before one of MJ's pops up? Chubby Checkers is #1, Dianah Ross is in there. Lionel Ritchie. Kenny Rogers is there. Mariah Carey. Rod Stewart, for pete's sake.

But not "Mr Change the World."

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/specials/hot100/charts/top100-titles-80.shtml

[xzins]

After acknowledging that the MJ hype doesn’t begin to qualify as news, let me go on to say that the point is that MJ wasn’t thought of that highly as a musician either PRIOR to his untimely demise.

I’m sure if they got a redo, that BillBoard would have him in the top 10 slots and twice on Sunday.

It’s informative, though, what they thought prior to the slobberfest.

[reg45]

Two great songs not on the list - both by Sinatra - “My Way” and “New York, New York”.

[mamelukesabre]

It’s not opinion is it? I was under the impression the ranking was strictly on $dollar sales and weeks in the charts.

Am I wrong?

Scanning through the list, I find it odd that there seems to be a lack of: elvis, sinatra, queen, led zepplin, the who, bill haley and the comets...

And WAY TOO MUCH BeeGees!

The other thing that is ridiculously glaringly obvious is that all music produced after circa 1995 is AWFUL! I can’t believe how fast the quality of the musical arts has gone to zero and below. It’s scary. What the heck is wrong with the world? It’s like I don’t belong on this planet anymore. And don’t tell me it’s because my perception is biased like everyone else’s in that they prefer the music of their youth and can’t stand the later stuff. I graduated highschool in the 80s. So I shouldn’t care for any of the 90s stuff by that logic. Yet to me music was still quality up until circa 1995. Then very quickly it became worthless crap.

[reg45]

I just read that some representative in our US Congress stated that Jackson "changed the world."

Change is not always for the better.

[mamelukesabre]

Or “at the hop” by bill haley.

Or “be bop a lula” by gene vincent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDU9FP5_B2M

[drjimmy]

After acknowledging that the MJ hype doesn’t begin to qualify as news, let me go on to say that the point is that MJ wasn’t thought of that highly as a musician either PRIOR to his untimely demise. I’m sure if they got a redo, that BillBoard would have him in the top 10 slots and twice on Sunday. It’s informative, though, what they thought prior to the slobberfest.

It's clear you haven't the slightest idea what this Billboard list represents. It doesn't have anything to do with "what they thought" of Michael Jackson vs. Chubby Checker. The list is simply based on a song's presence on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, which in turn is based on a combination of the song's sales figures and radio airplay. The entries have also been weighted to take into account such things as how Billboard changed the way sales and airplay were counted over the years, yada, yada. Hence, in this particular system, "The Twist" comes out on top.

Alternatively, if you look at the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists List, based on an artists entire song catalogue, The Beatles are #1, Michael Jackson is #8, the Jackson Five is #33, and Chubby Checker is #48.

Whatever one thinks of Michael Jackson as a person, his impact as an entertainer eclipsed anyone else worldwide. Elvis was essentially a U.S. phenomenon, so The Beatles are the only real basis for comparison in terms of having such fanatic followers throughout the world. But Jackson came around at a time when media was much more pervasive. I have no doubt that--for good or ill--Michael Jackson from about 1980 to 2000 was literally the most famous person in the world.

[Richard Kimball]

I think the first "over the top" idiocy at a death was over Princess Diana.

Prior to that, the first hero worship at a death I remember was JFK. There were only three networks, but they all suspended all other broadcasts and carried Kennedy coverage 24/7 through the funeral. I remember getting up at 3 AM on Saturday and turning on the TV (usually all the stations went off the air at midnight) and there was a still shot of Kennedy's casket lying in state.

[dfwgator]

You don't remember Buckwheat's death on SNL:

"Buckwheat Dead: America Mourns. Brought to you by Mutual Life: because you could die tomorrow."

[Dr. Sivana]

Or “at the hop” by bill haley.

That was Danny and the Juniors

[mamelukesabre]

Ok, that one too then. that was a good one.

I guess I was thinking of “rock around the clock” theme song to “happy days” with richie cunningham and fonzie. I thought that was “at the hop” for some reason. Memory is a little fuzzy.

[presently no screen name]

Billboard’s top 50 of all time

Are ‘Earth Angel’ and ‘In the Still of the Night’ on that list?

[xzins]

Thinking a bit more clearly on the subject, one might realize that it would be too easy to change how one selected songs. Some, however, aren’t noted for their perceptivity.

[ThreeYearLurker]

Forgot # 35, brother.

[drjimmy]

Thinking a bit more clearly on the subject, one might realize that it would be too easy to change how one selected songs. Some, however, aren’t noted for their perceptivity.

If what you are trying to say is that Billboard could change the criteria for song selection in order to put Michael Jackson on top--now that he's dead and all--that's really funny. Billboard is all about numbers--and the numbers it uses are for sales and airplay (on both radio and juke boxes). It has nothing to do with who is "best." Rolling Stone, Q, and other music magazines do plenty of those lists.

I suppose Billboard could tweak its criteria in order to move Billie Jean ahead of The Twist (not to mention moving ahead of such other musical gems as #5 Macarena, #7 You Light Up My Life, and #21 Eye of the Tiger). But on sales and airplay Michael Jackson is already in the Billboard top ten for all-time top artists, most #1 hits, and most weeks at #1 by an artist. And that doesn't even count his work with the Jackson Five. So yeah, hang on to that notion that Michael Jackson doesn't deserve all this attention since, after all, Billboard doesn't rank any of his songs as highly as a Chubby Checker song (though Billboard must surely be conspiring at this very moment to figure out a way to make Michael look better).