Last week, the Billboard charts began to reflect the success of the Michael Jackson biopic Michael, as several of the late singer'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, "Billie Jean" re-enters the Hot 100's top 20 and three more decades-old songs turn up in the top 50.
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Critics rightly panned it, but the blockbuster biopic Michael — which spanned much of Michael Jackson's early life and career, while brushing aside virtually every controversy in the singer's life — has already grossed more than half a billion dollars worldwide, according to Deadline. Now, its commercial impact is reaching well beyond the global box office.
Last week, Jackson's 1982 classic Thriller — which topped the Billboard 200 albums chart for an astounding 37 weeks in its initial heyday — reentered the chart at No. 7, while "Billie Jean" reentered the Hot 100 singles chart at No. 38. But last week's rankings covered the weekend Michael opened in theaters; surely, his catalog's Billboard boom would prove ephemeral once the box-office numbers began to fade, right?
Instead, Jackson has decades-old songs and albums reentering the charts on a scale rarely seen outside of the holiday season. It'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 — The Essential Michael Jackson — 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'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.
On the Hot 100, Jackson'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: "Billie Jean" jumps from No. 38 to No. 17, while "Human Nature," "Beat It" and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" all return to the chart.
If you were growing weary of music biopics, you'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.
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Speaking of strong week-two numbers, Noah Kahan'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's second week — enough that all 21 of The Great Divide's songs remain scattered across the Hot 100. That's remarkable week-two staying power, and more than enough to keep the album ranked ahead of Ella Langley's Dandelion.
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's posted her best week yet in terms of equivalent album units. Musgraves' records don't often experience the staying power of works by stars more widely embraced by country radio, but for one week at least, she's ahead of Morgan Wallen's I'm the Problem. That's got to make her smile.
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There's not much movement in the Hot 100's upper reaches, as Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" sits at No. 1 for a ninth nonconsecutive week. But Langley does score a fresh bit of bragging rights, as her follow-up hit "Be Her" rises from No. 5 to No. 2. With the Hot 100's top two songs and her Morgan Wallen duet "I Can't Love You Anymore" sitting at No. 8, Langley is a dominant presence in the top 10. That gives her a huge head start in the looming "song of the summer" sweepstakes.
The other notable rise in this week's top 10 belongs to Tame Impala, the long-running, stadium-filling musical project of Australian singer, songwriter and producer Kevin Parker. Tame Impala cracked the Hot 100 last fall with "Dracula," 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.
In February, Tame Impala released a remix of the song featuring BLACKPINK's JENNIE, and that version of the track quickly blew up on TikTok. Now, it's the first song by any of the aforementioned artists — Tame Impala, JENNIE or BLACKPINK — ever to hit the Hot 100's top 10. Kevin Parker came tantalizingly close as a collaborator and co-writer on Dua Lipa's 2023 hit "Houdini," which peaked at No. 11, while BLACKPINK got as close as No. 13 with its Selena Gomez collaboration "Ice Cream" in 2020.
For those already wondering whether "Choosin' Texas" will run away with song-of-the-summer status, "Dracula" is climbing into the charts' upper reaches at exactly the right time.
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