Dubbed the “King of Pop”, he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest entertainers in the history of music. Jackson’s contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades.
The eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his professional debut in 1964 with his elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5. He began his solo career in 1971 while at Motown Records, and rose to solo stardom with Off the Wall (1979). By the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. His music videos, including those for “Beat It”, “Billie Jean”, and “Thriller” from his 1982 album Thriller, are credited with breaking racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. Their popularity helped bring the television channel MTV to fame. Jackson continued to innovate throughout the 1990s with videos such as “Black or White” and “Scream”, and forged a reputation as a touring artist. Through stage and video performances, Jackson popularized complicated dance techniques such as the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His sound and style have influenced artists of various genres.
Jackson is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 350 million records worldwide. All five albums he released between 1979 and 1995, including Dangerous (1991) and HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995), rank among the world’s best-selling. Thriller is the best-selling album of all time, with estimated sales of 66 million copies worldwide. Bad (1987) was the first album to produce five Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles. He won hundreds of awards (more than any other artist in the history of popular music), has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, and is the only pop or rock artist to have been inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame. His other achievements include a record 39 Guinness World Records (including the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time), 15 Grammy Awards (including the Legend and Lifetime Achievement awards), 26 American Music Awards, and 13 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era). Jackson was the first artist to have a top ten single in the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades. In 2016, Jackson’s estate earned $825 million, the highest yearly amount for a celebrity ever recorded by Forbes.
Jackson transformed the art of music videos and paved the way for modern pop music. For much of Jackson’s career, he had an unparalleled worldwide influence over the younger generation. His music and videos, such as Thriller, fostered racial diversity in MTV’s roster and steered its focus from rock to pop music and R&B, shaping the channel into a form that proved enduring. He is recognized as the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time by Guinness World Records. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, and his contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades.