The biopic Michael set records over the weekend. Jackson had a long history of doing just that.
4/27/2026
Michael Jackson performs on stage during is “HIStory” world tour concert at Ericsson Stadium November 10, 1996 in Auckland, New Zealand.
Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images
The Michael Jackson film Michael grossed $217.3 million worldwide in its opening weekend, according to boxofficemojo.com. That already places it at No. 3 on Billboard’s list of music biopics with the highest worldwide grosses, behind Bohemian Rhapsody ($910.8 million) and Elvis ($288.7 million).
Michael grossed $97 million over the weekend in the U.S. and Canada alone. That’s the highest opening-weekend domestic gross ever for a music biopic, eclipsing the mark set by Straight Outta Compton in 2015 ($60 million).
Jackson has been making history for decades, both during his lifetime and since he died in 2009. He landed three No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and two top five albums on the Billboard 200 (all with the Jackson 5) before he turned 12. By the time he turned 13, the J5 had notched another No. 1 Hot 100 hit (“I’ll Be There”) and another top five album.
Jackson won 13 Grammys, received two Primetime Emmy nods and has two inductions into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He performed live on the Oscars when he was just 14 and, at 29, gave one of the most riveting performances in Grammy Awards history.
Jackson led a turbulent life, with lows as deep as these historic highs. The Michael biopic, which ends in 1988, when he was the biggest pop star on the planet, doesn’t take any of those lows or lingering controversies into account. The movie celebrates his commercial triumphs. So does this list.
Here are 20 previous times Jackson proved he’s the King of Pop.
Oct. 17, 1970: Fronted the first act to top the Hot 100 with first four chart singles
The Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” followed “I Want You Back,” “ABC” and “The Love You Save” to the No. 1 spot, making the group the first act to top the chart with their first four chart hits. Only one artist has equaled or bettered the feat: Mariah Carey, who scored with her first five chart hits in 1990-91. Carey paid homage to the J5 in 1992 with her remake of “I’ll Be There,” which also reached No. 1.
March 27, 1973: At age 14, performed live on the Oscars
At just 14, Jackson performed “Ben,” which in October 1972 became his first solo No. 1 Hot 100 hit, live on the Oscars. Charlton Heston introduced his performance by noting: “The first nominated song is ‘Ben’ from the picture Ben. It will be sung by a young man whose talent is mature, but whose age suggests that maybe he shouldn’t even be up this late.”
“Ben” didn’t win the Oscar – the award went to “The Morning After” from The Poseidon Adventure, a rather ordinary ballad from a bigger boxoffice hit. But Jackson won in the end: One of the people who was impressed by his performance was Quincy Jones, who decided if Jackson could wring that much emotion from a song about a rat, he had greater potential.
Jackson never performed on the Oscars again, though he made a high-profile return to the show in 1991 as the “date” of fellow megastar Madonna.
June 21, 1980: First solo artist to land four top 10 Hot 100 hits from one album
“She’s Out of My Life,” the fourth single from Off the Wall, followed “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough,” “Rock With You” and “Off the Wall” into the top 10 on the Hot 100. It was the first time an album by a solo artist spawned four top 10 hits. One album by a group, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, and two multi-artist soundtracks, Saturday Night Fever and Grease, had previously achieved the feat.
May 16, 1983: Unveiled moonwalk on Motown 25 special
Jackson unveiled his signature moonwalk dance step as he performed “Billie Jean” on the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever special. The special was taped on March 25, 1983, when “Billie Jean,” the only non-Motown song performed on the show, was midway through its seven-week reign atop the Hot 100. The show aired on NBC seven weeks later. Jackson received a Primetime Emmy nomination for outstanding individual performance in a variety or music program.
He went on to land a second Emmy nod in 1990 – outstanding music and lyrics for cowriting a song for Sammy Davis Jr.’s 60th Anniversary Celebration. Jackson was nominated for co-writing “You Were There,” a tribute to Davis, with Buz Kohan.
Jan. 16, 1984: First artist to win eight American Music Awards in one night
Jackson won eight AMAs on the show, then in its 11th year, in what was essentially a dress rehearsal for the upcoming Grammys. Jackson elected not to perform on the show. Instead, Barry Manilow sang “I’ll Be There” as a tribute. In all the years since, just one artist has matched Jackson’s eight-AMA sweep. Whitney Houston equaled the mark in 1994.
Feb, 18, 1984: First album to spawn seven top 10 Hot 100 hits
“Thriller” reached the top 10, becoming the seventh top 10 hit from the album of the same name, an unprecedented feat. It followed “The Girl Is Mine” (a collab with Paul McCartney), “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” “Human Nature” and “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing).”
Feb. 28, 1984: First artist to win eight Grammys in one night
Jackson had set a new Grammy record with 12 nominations in one year, and on the big night he became the first artist to win eight Grammys in one night, one more than Paul Simon won in 1971.
Both records have since been tied. In 1997, Babyface equaled MJ’s record of 12 nominations in one year. In 2000, Santana equaled the record of eight Grammy wins in one year.
April 14, 1984: First album by an individual artist or group to spend 37 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard 200
This was Thriller’s 37th and final week at No. 1. When it hit 32 weeks on top, it set a new record for the most weeks at No. 1 by an album by an individual artist or group. The only album with more weeks at No. 1 since the Billboard 200 launched on a consistent weekly basis in March 1956 was the West Side Story soundtrack, which spent 54 weeks on top.
MJ drew inspiration from West Side Story in two of his most famous videos: “Beat It” (1983, directed by Bob Giraldi) and “Bad” (1987, directed by Martin Scorsese). Both videos feature rival street gangs, urban settings and dance-fighting sequences similar to the classic 1961 film.
When the Recording Industry Assn. of America introduced multiplatinum albums on Oct. 30, 1984, Thriller was out front with certified U.S. shipments of 20 million copies. On the current tally, it has advanced to 34 million, topped only by Eagles/Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, which leads with 40 million.
Feb. 25, 1986: Won Grammy for song of the year
“We Are the World,” which Jackson co-wrote with Lionel Richie, won a Grammy for song of the year. That was the only Big Three category that eluded Jackson two years earlier in his Thriller sweep, when both “Beat It” and “Billie Jean” were nominated in the category but lost to Sting’s “Every Breath You Take.”
March 2, 1988: A showstopping performance on the live Grammy telecast
Jackson was nominated in four categories at the 30th annual Grammy Awards and lost them all. But he left Radio City Music Hall in New York City with something better than a trophy – a performance clip that proves that, despite all the controversy and well-placed concerns, he was indisputably one of the greatest performers of all time.
He performed two songs in their entirely – “The Way You Make Me Feel” and “Man in the Mirror.” The latter hit was nominated for record of the year at the following year’s awards. It lost to Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry Be Happy.”
July 2, 1988: First album to spawn five No. 1 hits on the Hot 100
This was the week “Dirty Dancing” hit No. 1, becoming the fifth No. 1 hit from Bad, an unprecedented feat. It followed “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Bad,” “The Way You Make Me Feel” and “Man in the Mirror.” In all the years since, just one other album has equaled the feat – Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream.
Sept. 7, 1988: Won MTV’s Video Vanguard Award
Jackson became the 11th recipient of MTV’s Video Vanguard Award, an award that was named in his honor three years later.
Jackson never won video of the year at the VMAs, one of the few major prizes that eluded him. He was nominated three times – with “Thriller,” “Leave Me Alone” and “Scream,” the latter a collab with sister Janet Jackson.
Nov. 15-18, 1992: Subject of a hit TV miniseries
The Jacksons: An American Dream became one of the most popular music-bio miniseries of the 1990s. The miniseries was watched in 38.3 million households. It was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards, including outstanding miniseries. Michael Peters won for outstanding individual achievement in choreography.
Feb. 24, 1993: Became youngest recipient of Grammy Legend Award
Jackson received the Grammy Legend Award on the annual Grammy telecast. At 34, he was the youngest-ever recipient. The award was presented by his sister, Janet.
Jackson didn’t receive a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in his lifetime, but he got one on the first telecast (on Jan. 31, 2010) following his death. Five top stars – Celine Dion, Usher, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson – performed his 1995 single “Earth Song.”
Sept. 2, 1995: First single to enter Hot 100 at No. 1; first male solo artist to land 13 No. 1 hits
“You Are Not Alone” became the first single to enter the Hot 100 at No. 1. It was Jackson’s 13th No. 1 hit as solo artist, extending his record as the male solo artist with the most No. 1 hits. Drake tied that record in October 2023, but no one has yet surpassed it.
March 19, 2001: Became youngest (living) two-time inductee into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Jackson was inducted into the Rock Hall on his first nomination, four years after he was inducted as a member of the Jackson 5. At 42, he was the youngest living two-time inductee. John Lennon, who died at age 40, became a two-time inductee posthumously. The ceremony was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
July 11, 2009: First catalog album to outsell that week’s No. 1 album
In the wake of his death on June 25, 2009, his 2003 compilation Number Ones became the best-selling album in the U.S. It didn’t appear at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 because rules in place at the time didn’t allow catalog titles to appear on that chart. The rule was changed later that year. But it’s a matter of historical record that Number Ones was the best-selling album for six of the first seven weeks following his death.
Nov. 14, 2009: Topped Billboard 200 with posthumous This Is It
The soundtrack to Michael Jackson’s This Is It topped the Billboard 200, becoming his sixth No. 1 album. The film was also a big hit, grossing $268 million worldwide, according to boxofficemojo.com.
June 12, 2022: Subject of Broadway musical that won four Tonys
MJ The Musical won four Tonys, including one for Myles Frost as lead actor in a musical. It was nominated for best musical but lost to A Strange Loop.
Nov. 10, 2025: First artist to land top 10 Hot 100 hits in six different decades
Jackson’s 1983 classic “Thriller,” which has become a Halloween perennial, rose from No. 32 to No. 10 on the Hot 100 dated Nov. 15, 2025. This made Jackson the first artist to rank in the top 10 in six distinct decades.
Jackson had No. 1 multiple hits in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s. His biggest hit of the ’00s was “You Rock My World” (No. 10 in 2001). His biggest hits of the ’10s were two collabs that each reached No. 9: “Love Never Felt So Good” (with Justin Timberlake, 2014) and “Don’t Matter to Me” (with Drake, 2018).
If you combine group and solo achievements, this was Jackson’s seventh decade with a top 10 Hot 100 hit: The Jackson 5 first cracked the top 10 on the last chart of the ‘60s, dated Dec. 27, 1969, with their breakthrough hit, “I Want You Back.”
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