I never said Van Halen was the greatest ever. By “genius” I meant from a marketing standpoint. At the time there were a lot of Van Halen fans who became attracted to this particular album because he was on it. Same with the Paul McCartney song. It brought in music fans it otherwise may not have. There is no disputing after 27 years it continues to be the highest selling album of all time.
There is no disputing after 27 years it continues to be the highest selling album of all time. Brittany Spears sold millions of records and sold out arenas everywhere. Does that make her music good, or substantive? If record sales are the measuring stick of "good music" then there are a bunch of "geniuses" out there you couldn't pay me to listen to: Bon Jovi, Poison, Journey.
That's akin to saying that John Grisham's predictable, cookie-cutter novels are "literature" because he sells a lot of them.