Michael Jackson died 17 years ago today.
It seems weird to say that. Seventeen years? Is that possible?
This week, I was standing at a CVS cash register, and “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough,” came bouncing over the sound system. Young people were mouthing the words. It was as if Michael were alive.
Everything else aside, Michael Jackson remains a phenomenon. No lawsuits or “scandals” can stop him. His biopic, “Michael,” has made $939 million worldwide. Almost a billion dollars! It’s still doing business despite being on streaming platforms.
So here’s the big news. So far in 2026, Michael has sold 2.5 million albums. Of those, a little over 500,000 are downloads, CDs, and LPs. The rest is from streaming.
And he’s been gone for 17 freaking years.
That’s an incredible statistic.
Much of it has to do with the movie. As we all know, the movie brought a lot of controversy. It was going to be two movies, it was held back several times, re-shot and re-conceived. Paris Jackson sued her father’s estate over lawyer’s fees and questioned what was spent.
“Michael” wasn’t even a critical success. It boasts a 37% on Rotten Tomatoes among reviewers. You can’t even say it’s really a movie. It’s almost fact-free as an actual biography. But the part of that shows Michael Jackson’s dazzling performances can’t be beat.
But the movie has already sold almost twice as many records than in 2025. Last year, Jackson’s total sales, according to Luminate, were 1.7 million albums. For the whole year. He’s already ahead of that number halfway through 2026 by 800,000 albums.
So congratulations. Michael. Your life was one battle after another, a catastrophe at every turn. But the payoff has turned out to be a miracle. The legend lives on and on and on.
