The Beatles V Michael Jackson.......it's not my argument HONEST:-)

[Ian Iachimoe]

There's a rather funny debate goin' on over at the Dotmusic(UK chart site) Beatles Discussion board, whenever this guy posts something he enrages the Jackson camp - i don't want any mad Jacko fans after me, but the publishing fracas kinda bothers me, so i found it funny: i've pasted the guys rather CONCLUSIVE argument below:-))


Why do some MJ fans have to behave like little children sometimes? Michael Jackson is a great artist, I wouldn`t hesitate calling him a musical genius, so why can`t you just enjoy his music without dissing other artists?

How can anyone compare music videos of the 1960s with those of the 1980s and 1990s, that`s really cheap.

Michael Jackson`s tours beats any? Imagine, if the Beatles would tour the world right now, even without John Lennon, ... they`d terminate every existing tour record with ease.

Paul McCartney is still three times as rich as Michael Jackson.

Here are some facts to put things straight:

The Beatles sold more than 700 million albums, Michael Jackson around 200 million.

The Beatles have more than eight albums that sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, Michael Jackson only five.

The Beatles sold 156 million albums in Michael Jackson`s homecountry, the US. That`s three times as many as Jackson (54 million).

The Beatles have 20 US #1 singles, Jackson has only 13.

The Beatles have 19 US #1 albums, Jackson only four!

The Beatles spent 128 weeks at #1 in the US album chart, Jackson only 49 weeks.

The Beatles achieved 17 UK #1 singles, Jackson only seven.

The Beatles had 15 #1 albums in the UK, Jackson only six.

The Beatles spent 172 weeks atop the UK album chart, Jackson only 19.

The Beatles achieved five million selling singles in the UK, Jackson none.

The Beatles sold more than 59 million singles in the US, Jackson certainly less.

The Beatles best selling album is "Sgt. Pepper" with 32 million, and this without numerous singles released to boost its sales and without any videos. Five months after "Sgt. Pepper", the Beatles already released their next album, it took Jackson five years to release a follow-up!

The Beatles hold many more records, and remember, the Beatles` active recording career lasted only eight years, but Jackson`s solo recording career is longer than 20 years, but he still can`t touch the Beatles saleswise.

Regards
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mikeys girl
Junior Member Posted: 31-Dec-2000 19:23
Email Author Reply with Quote Edit Message
Wolf,you are my hero. Those stats are amazing. I have been a fan of The Beatles since 1978 (I started young) yet I could not have quoted all those stats accurately.
Wolf-you rock.

[bearkat77]

This person states a good case, but he failed to note that Jackson owns the copyrights to the Beatles library. I hate to say this, but MJ is probably receiving royalties from the Beatles "1". I know that comes as a shock to some. But you must also realize that it was Paul McCartney who urged Jackson to buy copyrights, though Paul didn't think that he'd buy the Beatles.

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[**DONOTDELETE**]

<The Beatles best selling album is "Sgt. Pepper" with 32 million,>

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the White Album The Beatles biggest selling album? I swear I read somewhere that the White Album is the 5th highest selling album of all time. The first four being The Eagles, Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson, and someone else that I can't remember. Anyone know?

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Look around 'round 'round 'round 'round, 'round 'round 'round 'round 'round. Look aroooooo-ooooooouuuuu-uuuuund.

[jami]

I know the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack was a huge seller, and so was Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors". They are saying now that Beatles 1 may pass up the Eagles greatest hits album. How about that?! I think that's great!

[Harbidge]

I think I heard that the other band in the top 5 is Nirvana with the album Nevermind, but I could easily be wrong.

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Housing one of the biggest collection of clues on a single website, Paul is Dead - The Conclusive Evidence (http://www.paulisdead.net) is just what you need to make a final decision about this conspiracy.

[jtal909]

I don't think it's fair to compare highest selling albums. Today the population has vastly increased, people have more money to spend, and the media to advertise is enormous. MTV and VH1 alone probably generate 50% of sales revenue. Where would M. Jackson be without the video for Thriller, Billie Jean, or Beat It?
If the Beatles were to put those albums out today, nobody would be able to come close to matching their success.

[Tim]

As far as what was on the charts the longest:
Dark Side Of The Moon ,Pink Floyd 1973
741 weeks on the Top 200 LP charts
20,000,000 sold.

Other LPs with super long chart runs
490 weeks...Johnny's Greatest Hits,Johnny Mathis 1958
480 weeks...My Fair Lady 1956
305 weeks...Oklahoma! 1956
302 weeks...Tapestry,Carole King 1973
295 weeks...Heavenly,Johnny Mathis 1959
277 weeks...The King And I 1956
276 weeks...The Sound Of Music 1960
262 weeks...South Pacific 1956
245 weeks...The Music Man 1958
231 weeks...Film Encores,Mantovani 1959

West Side Story (1962) spent a total of 54 weeks at #1 and 106 weeks in the Top 10,144 weeks in the Top 40 and 198 weeks in the charts.

The longest running Beatles LP is Sgt. Pepper with 175 weeks on the charts.

The LP chartsa since 1956 has evolved as such:
prior to June 1956,on and off 10 to 30 LPs.
6/2/56--8/26/57 Top 15
9/2/57--5/18/59 Top 25
5/25/59--3/27/61 Top 50 mono,Top 30 stereo
4/3/61--8/10/63 Top 150 mono,Top 50 stereo
8/17/63--3/25/67 Top 150(mono and stereo charts dropped).
4/1/67--5/6/67 Top 175
Since 5/13/67 Top 200

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Tim
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The Church Beatle will now pass among you,and no foreign coins please.

Caesar of TimBrent.net (http://www.timbrent.net)

[This message has been edited by Tim (edited January 11, 2001 at 11:32 AM).]

[This message has been edited by Tim (edited January 11, 2001 at 11:34 AM).]

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Hey Harb, I'm pretty sure it wasn't Nirvana. Man! I wish I could remember now, cuz it's going to bug me!

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Look around 'round 'round 'round 'round, 'round 'round 'round 'round 'round. Look aroooooo-ooooooouuuuu-uuuuund.

[Ian Iachimoe]

I know that in the UK Sgt Pepper is certainly the biggest album, in fact it's the biggest British album ever.

I also heard The White Album was the biggest Beatle album in America, but this could be due to the way you guys count double albums as two discs....i dunno just a thought

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In Love all of life's contradictions dissolve and disappear

[Tim]

I'm not sure on how they count the sales,I beleive by units,but the White Album does get a ton of sales,though they do also include the 30th Anniversary edition and the "limited edition" vinyl in there.


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Tim
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The Church Beatle will now pass among you,and no foreign coins please.

Caesar of TimBrent.net (http://www.timbrent.net)

[Tim]

Here are the 10 Lps which were #1 in the Billboard charts the longest:
54 weeks...West Side Story (1962)
37 weeks...Thriller,Michael Jackson (1982)
31 weeks...South Pacific (1958)
31 weeks...Caypso,Harry Belafonte (1956)
31 weeks...Rumours,Fleetwood Mac (1977)
24 weeks...Saturday Night Fever (1977)
24 weeks...Purple Rain,Prince (1984)
21 weeks...Please Hammer Don't hurt 'Em,M.C. Hammer (1990)
20 weeks...The Bodyguard,Whitney Houston (1992)
20 weeks...Blue Hawaii,Elvis Presley (1961)

Harb,I beleive the 5th album you are thinking about is Fleetwood Mac's Rumours(17,000,000 in the USA).




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Tim
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The Church Beatle will now pass among you,and no foreign coins please.

Caesar of TimBrent.net (http://www.timbrent.net)

[Original Fan]

Added to what jtal and 'kat stated here, shouldn't we consider the fact that The Beatles cranked out album after album, probably overtaking themselves on the charts? Does this make any sense to anyone? I clearly remember the first waiting period between album releases in the U.S. was for Sgt. Pepper, which didn't come out until June of 1967. Prior to that, we were kept well-supplied! Remember, contemporaries?

[Tim]

It does,OFan,the longest wait was the 10 months between Revolver and Pepper,you also had a 6 month gap between Rubber Soul and Yesterday and Today and a 5 month gap between Something New and Beatles '65(I am not counting VeeJay repackages,Tony Sheridan or interview LPs such as The Beatles' Story).
The first 11 US Beatles Lps were issued over a period of 44 months (1/64 to 8/66). The only act more proficient was the Beach Boys who in the 44 month period of 10/62-5/66 issued 12 albums.
Back then,artists were expected to issue at least 2 LPs a year,though as I've noted in my (long) posts about the Billboard charts,your greatest staying power seems to be soundtracks.



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Tim
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The Church Beatle will now pass among you,and no foreign coins please.

Caesar of TimBrent.net (http://www.timbrent.net)

[jtal909]

The Beatles did it all in a 6 year period of recording. Amazing.

[Tim]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jtal909:
The Beatles did it all in a 6 year period of recording. Amazing.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

jtal:
You're right it truly IS amazing to think what little time the Beatles had and the amount of great work they accomplished.



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Tim
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The Church Beatle will now pass among you,and no foreign coins please.

Caesar of TimBrent.net (http://www.timbrent.net)

[Original Fan]

Thanks, Tim, for so clearly explaining and documenting the point I was attempting to make. There are too many intangibles here to fairly pit Michael Jackson against The Beatles. Yeah, yeah, yeah!

[Paul_McCartney2002]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tim:
Here are the 10 Lps which were #1 in the Billboard charts the longest:
54 weeks...West Side Story (1962)
37 weeks...Thriller,Michael Jackson (1982)
31 weeks...South Pacific (1958)
31 weeks...Caypso,Harry Belafonte (1956)
31 weeks...Rumours,Fleetwood Mac (1977)
24 weeks...Saturday Night Fever (1977)
24 weeks...Purple Rain,Prince (1984)
21 weeks...Please Hammer Don't hurt 'Em,M.C. Hammer (1990)
20 weeks...The Bodyguard,Whitney Houston (1992)
20 weeks...Blue Hawaii,Elvis Presley (1961)


<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The longest on Bilbords top 200 is Dark Side of the Moon, by Pink Floyd with 566 weeks and about 25 million copies sold. I know that come from nowhere but it's kind of cool.


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[Tim]

Dark Sid edi sell about 20 million,but the chart run was 741 weeks(or close to 15 years).


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Tim
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The Church Beatle will now pass among you,and no foreign coins please.

Caesar of TimBrent.net (http://www.timbrent.net)

[darkhorse]

Congratulations! And thanks for the numerical arguments. Now we've got more reasons to think that The Beatles are the best artists in the history of popular music. As for the biggest-selling albums, I think the Eagles' "Greatest Hits" and Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" are good records, but they not reach the Beatles' quality.

(P.S.: It's SO good to beat Michael Jackson!)

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"All the world is birthday cake,
so take a piece, but not too much"

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by darkhorse:


(P.S.: It's SO good to beat Michael Jackson!)

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Especially with a baseball bat!

[Paul_McCartney2002]

LOL Good call Nowhere Man, Good Call. That man needs some real help.

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Up and running now, just be sure to skip the intro!

He could start with a real face. http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/wink.gif

[darkhorse]

As "The Nanny" said once, "he should have stopped after 'Thriller'" http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/wink.gif

(P.S.:Is he still a friend of Paul? I don't want to hurt HIM!)

[Wolf]

Seems there is some confusion about the Beatles` best selling albums...

Here`s the solution: worlwide, "Sgt. Pepper`s" is the Beatles best seller (32 million copies), while the "White Album" is the Beatles` best selling Album in the US only (18 million).


Wolf

[st.paulygirl]

Ha! Are Paul and Michael still friends?I saw an interview with Paul that went something like this.....
When Paul and M.J. were hanging out together recording "Say,Say, Say." & "The Girl is Mine" Paul reflected on Michael's off-the-cuff remarks:
Paulhttp://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/frown.gifIn a girlish M.J. voice):"I'm gonna buy YOUR songs."
Paul chuckles as if laughing him off as if to say"yeah right".Sometime later Michael repeated it.
Paul(in hilarious MJ voice):"I'm gonna buy YOUR songs."Jackson later outbid Paul and bought the (correct me if I'm wrong) the rights to the entire Beatles catalog.
Paul was completely mortified when Jackson started selling the songs to advertisers to be used in TV commercials.(He names them during the interview.)Jackson continues to sell the rights to their songs 'til today.Did ya see the one for "Getting Better"? I think it's Panasonic.Needless to say, Paul is extremely bitter.

[st.paulygirl]

Oops! Ive double P-P-Posted.....

[This message has been edited by st.paulygirl (edited February 06, 2001 at 03:33 PM).]

[Paul_McCartney2002]

It seems to me that the song written by The Beatles should be owned by the people that wrote them. MJ dosn't own the songs writen by George and Ringo, does he?

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Be sure to see the best new site on the web

www.anetzweb.com (http://www.anetzweb.com)
Up and running now, just be sure to skip the intro!

[Tim]

If they were published by Northern Songs,yes.
They were talked back in 64 into floating NS on the exchange.


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Tim
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http://members.tripod.co.uk/seltaeb/fmty.jpg

[BEATLEDORK]

wackko jakko gives me the willie jillies!! i mean i see him on tv and i look to see if any of his black is showing underneath his powwder! he is a double dubble freak! i mean i being a teen-age boy would turn and run if i saw him for fear of molestation!! i am very nice when it comes to music, i can live with wild LImp Bizkit or Creed fans, but when it comes to m.j. fans i tend to back off into a mad run. they are all freeks if you ask me!

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Im a cowboy/on my stale horse i ride/ im wanted/ dead or alive/


john lennon lives!!!
-joko ono(stacey)

[SleepyHead]

You're entitled to your opinion, of course. It's a good thing I don't take exception to being called a "freek" since I just happen to be a MJ fan http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/cool.gif

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[st.paulygirl]

I think the guy is EXTREMELY gifted.So gifted in fact, it's scary.I think he's an alien.