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Michael Jackson Just Made Billboard History Again β
17 Years After His Death
The King of Pop is now the first artist in history to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 in six consecutive decades β and the biopic driving it all isn’t slowing down.
A Record Nobody Saw Coming
Seventeen years after his death in 2009, Michael Jackson is the biggest artist in the United States right now. Not one of the biggest. The biggest. He tops the Billboard Artist 100, has six songs charting simultaneously on the Hot 100, and just became the first artist in history to have Hot 100 hits in six separate decades β from the 1970s all the way through the 2020s.
The catalyst? The blockbuster biopic Michael, which premiered on April 24, 2026, and has been steamrolling the box office ever since β closing in on Bohemian Rhapsody as the highest-grossing music biopic of all time.
But the chart story that’s breaking the internet today is something different: a deep cut nobody expected β “Chicago” β just debuted at No. 30 on the Hot 100. It’s not in the film. It was never a major hit when it was first released. And yet it’s the song the internet can’t stop streaming.
“Chicago” β The Deep Cut Nobody Knew They Needed
Before the biopic dropped, most casual fans had never heard “Chicago.” It wasn’t a single. It wasn’t a radio staple. It was an album track that lived quietly in Jackson’s catalog for decades. Then something happened: TikTok found it. Clips went viral. Streams started climbing β from 3.8 million in its first tracking week (May 9) to 10.7 million in the week of May 22β28, a 30% jump week-over-week.
It’s now drawn 388 million total streams to date. For a song that was never promoted, never pushed, never featured in a major film β that number is staggering.
“Chicago stands out as not having been a major hit upon its original release β and it’s not even featured in the film. The internet found it on its own.”
β Billboard, June 1, 2026
Six Songs. Six Decades. One Artist.
Here’s what Jackson’s current Hot 100 presence looks like β a catalog run that spans the entirety of popular music history:
Six Decades of Billboard History
To understand just how unprecedented this is, here’s how Jackson’s chart presence spans every decade since the 1970s:
The Michael Biopic Effect β By the Numbers
The film Michael isn’t just a movie hit β it’s become a full-scale catalog resurrection event. Since its April 24 premiere, Jackson has topped the Billboard Artist 100 for the first time ever, placed six simultaneous songs on the Hot 100, hit #1 on the Billboard Global 200 with “Billie Jean,” and seen his Thriller album return to No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart β its first week at the top since 1984.
Thriller also re-entered the Billboard 200 at No. 7, with 45,000 equivalent album units β a 425% weekly improvement.
Jackson’s estate generates hundreds of millions annually β and moments like this send royalty streams surging. “Chicago” alone hit 388 million streams before charting. At standard streaming rates, that’s hundreds of thousands of dollars from a single deep cut that was never actively promoted. This is the power of catalog ownership β and exactly why smart money follows music rights.
What Happens Next
The biopic is still in theaters. Streaming numbers keep climbing. And the internet is clearly still discovering corners of Jackson’s catalog that have been sitting untouched for decades. With the World Cup kicking off June 11 across the US and global attention at its peak, any artist with a cultural moment this strong is only going to grow.
The King of Pop isn’t just a legend. In June 2026, he’s the #1 artist in America. Follow Prosper Path USA for all the music, money, and cultural moments that matter this summer.
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