King of Pop Reigns Again: Michael Jackson's Catalog Explodes After Biopic, Crushing Streaming Records!

Following the release of the Michael biopic, Michael Jackson has shattered his personal record for domestic streaming, experiencing an unprecedented surge in popularity.

Confirming projections reported in late April, Michael Jacksonobliterates his personal-best domestic streaming week following the release of the Michael biopic.

The King of Pop’s solo song catalog registered a collective 137.5 million official on-demand streams for the week of April 24-30 in the United States, according to Luminate, up 146% and more than doubling his previous career high.

Before his nine-digit streaming haul, Jackson’s solo catalog achieved a new personal benchmark last week at 55.9 million song clicks.

Prior to the Michael era, the late icon, who died in 2009, recorded a high of 53.7 million for the week of Oct. 25-31, 2019, spurred by the now-annual Halloween resurgence for “Thriller.”

Michael covers Jackson’s life from 1966 to 1988, including time with both The Jackson 5 and The Jacksons groups with his brothers.

As such, those acts’ catalogs experience massive increases too, with the former’s songs pulling 10.1 million streams in the tracking week, up 135% from the previous week’s 4.3 million.

The Jacksons, meanwhile, surge to 4.9 million clicks for their tracks, up 57% from 2.1 million last week.

The streaming eruption fuels Jackson to several appearances across the week’s Billboard charts.

For starters, the legend races 29-3 on the Billboard Artist 100, a multimetric chart indicating artist popularity from streaming, digital song sales, radio airplay and album sales.

Elsewhere, his landmark album Thriller re-enters the Billboard 200 at No. 7, with 45,000 equivalent album units (a 425% weekly improvement).

It’s the album’s best showing since reaching the same position in December 2022 after a 40th anniversary reissue.

Excluding that celebration, Thriller last ranked higher on the chart dated June 2, 1984, at No. 6.

Just weeks before, the blockbuster wrapped 37 weeks at No. 1 across 1983-1984, still the most weeks at No. 1 by an album by a singular artist in the chart’s history.

The classic “Billie Jean” led the song recap, maintaining its position as the catalog’s most streamed song with 9.4 million streams and re-entering the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 38, adding its 26th week on the list since its 1983 debut.

Beyond Thriller, Jackson placed two more albums in the Billboard 200's top 40: his 2004 compilation Number Ones climbed 20-12 with 37,000 equivalent album units.

The biopic’s official soundtrack, Michael: Songs From the Motion Picture, debuted at No. 37. This marks Jackson’s 18th top 40 project and his first since 2017’s Scream reached No. 33.

Jackson also expanded his presence in the R&B genre, with ten titles on the 50-position Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

“Billie Jean” spearheaded the list at No. 5, followed by “Beat It” (No. 9), “Human Nature” (No. 10), “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough” (No. 11), “Rock With You” (No. 13), “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” (No. 17).

“The Way You Make Me Feel” (No. 20), “Smooth Criminal” (No. 22), “Remember the Time” (No. 23), “Dirty Diana” (No. 24), and “Man in the Mirror” (No. 25).

Notably, both “Human Nature” and “P.Y.T.” achieved new peaks on this ranking, surpassing their previous maximums of Nos. 27 and 46, respectively.

The extensive activity surrounding Jackson’s music directly reflects the record-setting opening of the Michael biopic itself.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson in the title role, the film generated $97 million in its opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada, and $218.8 million worldwide.

These figures represent the highest-ever opening for any biopic, highlighting the significant commercial impact of the film.