{"id":671408,"date":"2026-05-14T23:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T23:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/671408\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T23:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T23:40:10","slug":"michael-jacksons-biopic-has-pushed-his-music-up-the-billboard-charts-npr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/671408\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Jackson\u2019s biopic has pushed his music up the Billboard charts : NPR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778802009_506_.jpeg\" data-template=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/4297x2974+0+0\/resize\/{width}\/quality\/{quality}\/format\/{format}\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F85%2F24%2F787e2878474db015fbca721cdceb%2Fgettyimages-88688373.jpg\" class=\"img\" alt=\"Michael Jackson performing in 1988.\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n                Michael Jackson performing in 1988.<\/p>\n<p>                    KMazur\/WireImage\/WireImage<\/p>\n<p>                hide caption\n            <\/p>\n<p>            toggle caption<\/p>\n<p>        KMazur\/WireImage\/WireImage<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the Billboard charts began to reflect the success of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/artists\/16782748\/michael-jackson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Michael Jackson<\/a> biopic Michael, as several of the late singer&#8217;s titles landed on the Billboard 200 albums chart. This week, that trickle has turned into a minor flood, as Thriller and Number Ones land in the top 10, &#8220;Billie Jean&#8221; re-enters the Hot 100&#8217;s top 20 and three more decades-old songs turn up in the top 50.<\/p>\n<p>   TOP STORY   <\/p>\n<p>Critics rightly panned it, but the blockbuster biopic Michael \u2014 which spanned much of Michael Jackson&#8217;s early life and career, while brushing aside virtually <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2019\/03\/05\/699995484\/michael-jackson-a-quarter-century-of-sexual-abuse-allegations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">every controversy<\/a> in the singer&#8217;s life \u2014 has already grossed more than half a billion dollars worldwide, <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/05\/box-office-global-devil-wears-prada-2-mortal-kombat-2-disney-1236889529\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">according to<\/a> Deadline. Now, its commercial impact is reaching well beyond the global box office.<\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"imagewrap\" id=\"featuredStackSquareImagenx-s1-5806626\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/05\/01\/nx-s1-5806626\/inside-the-michael-jackson-legacy-industrial-complex\" data-metrics-ga4=\"{&quot;category&quot;:&quot;recirculation&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:&quot;story_recirculation_click&quot;,&quot;clickType&quot;:&quot;inset box&quot;,&quot;clickUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.npr.org\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/01\\\/nx-s1-5806626\\\/inside-the-michael-jackson-legacy-industrial-complex&quot;}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778802009_529_.jpeg\" data-original=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/3000x3000+0+0\/resize\/100\/quality\/100\/format\/jpeg\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc4%2F25%2F5b5206f34612acdc71e62b836bd7%2F4074f6e6-d7ab-4c68-824f-515c9855308e.jpg\" data-template=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/3000x3000+0+0\/resize\/{width}\/quality\/{quality}\/format\/{format}\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc4%2F25%2F5b5206f34612acdc71e62b836bd7%2F4074f6e6-d7ab-4c68-824f-515c9855308e.jpg\" data-format=\"jpeg\" class=\"img lazyOnLoad\" alt=\"Inside the Michael Jackson legacy industrial complex\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a>         <\/p>\n<p>Last week, Jackson&#8217;s 1982 classic Thriller \u2014 which topped the Billboard 200 albums chart for an astounding 37 weeks in its initial heyday \u2014 reentered the chart at No. 7, while &#8220;Billie Jean&#8221; reentered the Hot 100 singles chart at No. 38. But last week&#8217;s rankings covered the weekend Michael opened in theaters; surely, his catalog&#8217;s Billboard boom would prove ephemeral once the box-office numbers began to fade, right?<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Jackson has decades-old songs and albums reentering the charts on a scale rarely seen outside of the holiday season. It&#8217;s not just that Thriller climbs into the top five, or that the greatest-hits collection Number Ones enters the top 10 for the first time, or that another best-of set \u2014 The Essential Michael Jackson \u2014 jumps from No. 158 to No. 88. Off the Wall and Dangerous reenter the Billboard 200, as well. If this were the first chart week after Michael&#8217;s release, that would be one thing, but these charts reflect its second week in theaters. That suggests a trend extending beyond fan excitement surrounding the opening of a movie.<\/p>\n<p>On the Hot 100, Jackson&#8217;s presence is similarly striking, albeit concentrated outside the top 10. Three songs from Thriller either climb or reenter the chart in the top 50: &#8220;Billie Jean&#8221; jumps from No. 38 to No. 17, while &#8220;Human Nature,&#8221; &#8220;Beat It&#8221; and &#8220;Don&#8217;t Stop &#8216;Til You Get Enough&#8221; all return to the chart.<\/p>\n<p>If you were growing weary of music biopics, you&#8217;d best brace yourself for a lot more of them. When biopics hit the way Michael has, they can rack up numbers that extend well beyond the box office.<\/p>\n<p>   TOP ALBUMS   <\/p>\n<p>Speaking of strong week-two numbers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/artists\/1219283275\/noah-kahan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Noah Kahan<\/a>&#8216;s The Great Divide holds at No. 1 for a second week following its massive debut. Though sales dropped precipitously, as expected, streaming dipped just 35% in the album&#8217;s second week \u2014 enough that all 21 of The Great Divide&#8217;s songs remain scattered across the Hot 100. That&#8217;s remarkable week-two staying power, and more than enough to keep the album ranked ahead of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/artists\/g-s1-109803\/ella-langley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ella Langley<\/a>&#8216;s Dandelion.<\/p>\n<p>Debuting just behind Langley is another country mainstay in Kacey Musgraves, whose Middle of Nowhere becomes her sixth album to debut in the top five. With 64,500 copies sold and solid streaming numbers, she&#8217;s posted her best week yet in terms of equivalent album units. Musgraves&#8217; records don&#8217;t often experience the staying power of works by stars more widely embraced by country radio, but for one week at least, she&#8217;s ahead of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/artists\/963693317\/morgan-wallen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Morgan Wallen<\/a>&#8216;s I&#8217;m the Problem. That&#8217;s got to make her smile.<\/p>\n<p>   TOP SONGS   <\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s not much movement in the Hot 100&#8217;s upper reaches, as Ella Langley&#8217;s &#8220;Choosin&#8217; Texas&#8221; sits at No. 1 for a ninth nonconsecutive week. But Langley does score a fresh bit of bragging rights, as her follow-up hit &#8220;Be Her&#8221; rises from No. 5 to No. 2. With the Hot 100&#8217;s top two songs and her Morgan Wallen duet &#8220;I Can&#8217;t Love You Anymore&#8221; sitting at No. 8, Langley is a dominant presence in the top 10. That gives her a huge head start in the looming &#8220;song of the summer&#8221; sweepstakes.<\/p>\n<p>The other notable rise in this week&#8217;s top 10 belongs to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/artists\/128629816\/tame-impala\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tame Impala<\/a>, the long-running, stadium-filling musical project of Australian singer, songwriter and producer Kevin Parker. Tame Impala cracked the Hot 100 last fall with &#8220;Dracula,&#8221; which seemed at first to be a Halloween-adjacent short-timer. Now, more than six months later, it zooms from No. 18 to No. 10.<\/p>\n<p>In February, Tame Impala released a remix of the song featuring <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/artists\/1004733951\/blackpink\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">BLACKPINK<\/a>&#8216;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/artists\/g-s1-55247\/jennie\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">JENNIE<\/a>, and that version of the track quickly blew up on TikTok. Now, it&#8217;s the first song by any of the aforementioned artists \u2014 Tame Impala, JENNIE or BLACKPINK \u2014 ever to hit the Hot 100&#8217;s top 10. Kevin Parker came tantalizingly close as a collaborator and co-writer on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/artists\/541674452\/dua-lipa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dua Lipa<\/a>&#8216;s 2023 hit &#8220;Houdini,&#8221; which peaked at No. 11, while BLACKPINK got as close as No. 13 with its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/artists\/570174668\/selena-gomez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Selena Gomez<\/a> collaboration &#8220;Ice Cream&#8221; in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>For those already wondering whether &#8220;Choosin&#8217; Texas&#8221; will run away with song-of-the-summer status, &#8220;Dracula&#8221; is climbing into the charts&#8217; upper reaches at exactly the right time.<\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"imagewrap\" id=\"featuredStackSquareImagenx-s1-5813650\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/05\/07\/nx-s1-5813650\/noah-kahan-the-great-divide-michael-jackson-charts\" data-metrics-ga4=\"{&quot;category&quot;:&quot;recirculation&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:&quot;story_recirculation_click&quot;,&quot;clickType&quot;:&quot;inset box&quot;,&quot;clickUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.npr.org\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/07\\\/nx-s1-5813650\\\/noah-kahan-the-great-divide-michael-jackson-charts&quot;}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778802010_95_.png\" data-original=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/2667x2667+667+0\/resize\/100\/quality\/100\/format\/png\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1b%2F52%2F8b15dca34690b14a8bb513bf23ca%2Fjackson-comp.png\" data-template=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/2667x2667+667+0\/resize\/{width}\/quality\/{quality}\/format\/{format}\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1b%2F52%2F8b15dca34690b14a8bb513bf23ca%2Fjackson-comp.png\" data-format=\"png\" class=\"img lazyOnLoad\" alt=\"Noah Kahan and the late Michael Jackson each find success this week on the Billboard charts.\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a>         <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Jackson performing in 1988. KMazur\/WireImage\/WireImage hide caption toggle caption KMazur\/WireImage\/WireImage Last week, the Billboard charts began to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-671408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}