Madonna and Michael Jackson: A Rare Meeting at the Top of the Music Charts

What Just Happened? (The Big News)

Imagine a scoreboard for music albums in the United States called the Billboard 200. It lists the 200 most popular albums each week, based on how many people buy or listen to them. Being in the Top 10 means you are one of the 10 most popular albums that week.

• Madonna (often called the Queen of Pop) just released a new studio album called CONFESSIONS II.
• This album is brand new on the chart and jumps straight to No. 1 (the very top!) on the chart dated July 18.
• At the same time, Michael Jackson (the King of Pop) has an old famous album called Thriller (which was No. 1 back in 1983–84). It moved down a little from No. 7 to No. 8 on the latest chart.

Important: This is only the second time ever that both Madonna and Michael Jackson have been in the Top 10 of this chart at the same time. The last time was almost 25 years ago!

(The charts dated July 18 will appear on Billboard’s website on Tuesday, July 14 – a bit early, like getting a peek at next week’s scoreboard.)

The First (and Previous) Time They Shared the Top 10

Let’s look back at the only other time this happened:

• On the chart dated December 1, 2001:
  • Michael Jackson’s album Invincible was at No. 1 but slipped to No. 4 in its third week.
  • Madonna’s greatest-hits collection GHV2: Greatest Hits Volume 2 entered the chart fresh at No. 7.
• The very next week, both albums dropped out of the Top 10, but they stayed in the Top 15 together for a little longer.

Near Misses in the 1980s (So Close!)

You might think they should have met in the 1980s because they were both super famous. Together they spent 57 weeks at No. 1 in that decade (Madonna had 16, Jackson had 41). But they just missed each other!

Here’s a step-by-step of one near miss:

1. Sept. 19, 1987 chart: Madonna’s movie soundtrack Who’s That Girl was in its third and final week in the Top 10, sitting at No. 7.
2. The following week: Who’s That Girl fell to No. 11 (just outside Top 10), while Michael Jackson’s album Bad debuted at No. 1.
3. Oct. 3 chart: Who’s That Girl stayed at No. 11, and Bad remained at No. 1.

Even though they never shared the Top 10 then, they both appeared in the Top 15 for four straight weeks (Sept. 26 – Oct. 17, 1987).

Another close moment:

• On Jan. 23, 1988, Madonna’s remix album You Can Dance climbed to No. 14, and Jackson’s Bad held at No. 4 – both in the Top 15, but not Top 10.

Why Didn’t They Meet More Often?

Let’s break it down simply:

• Madonna first entered the Top 10 on Oct. 6, 1984 with her first album (self-titled). By then, Jackson’s Thriller had already left the Top 10 (it was there from Jan 1983 to June 1984).
• After Thriller, Jackson had 4 more Top 10 albums before he passed away in 2009, and then 4 more after his death (released using his old music).
• Madonna was like a music machine! Her first album was the start of 24 Top 10 albums in total, counting up to CONFESSIONS II.

Important: A big reason they rarely overlapped is that their new albums didn’t come out close together. In fact, there were only four times when both released a Top 10 album within six months of each other:

• 1987: Who’s That Girl (Madonna) and Bad (Jackson)
• 1995: Something To Remember (Madonna) and HIStory (Jackson)
• 2001: GHV2 (Madonna) and Invincible (Jackson)
• 2009: Celebration (Madonna) and Michael Jackson’s This Is It (Jackson, released after he died)

Summary

To wrap it up like a tidy package:

• Madonna’s new album CONFESSIONS II is No. 1, and Michael Jackson’s Thriller is No. 8 on the July 18 Billboard 200 chart.
• This is just the second time they’ve both been in the Top 10 together; the first was in 2001.
• In the 1980s they kept missing each other by a week or stayed in the Top 15 instead.
• They each had huge success (Madonna 24 Top 10s, Jackson many too) but their album release timings rarely lined up.

FAQ

Q1: What is the Billboard 200 chart?
It’s like a weekly leaderboard in the U.S. that shows which music albums are the most popular from sales and streaming. The Top 10 are the ten biggest that week.

Q2: How many times have Madonna and Michael Jackson been in the Top 10 at the same time?
Only two times: once in December 2001 and now with the July 18, 2024-dated chart (nearly 25 years later).

Q3: Why didn’t they appear together in the 1980s despite both being No. 1 a lot?
Their albums were rarely released close together, and when they were big, one would leave the Top 10 just as the other arrived (like in 1987 when Madonna’s album fell to No. 11 the same week Jackson’s Bad hit No. 1).

Q4: How many Top 10 albums does Madonna have in total?
Counting up to CONFESSIONS II, she has 24 albums that have reached the Top 10 of the Billboard 200.

Q5: What does “posthumous” mean in this story?
It means something released after a person has died. Michael Jackson died in 2009, but some of his albums (like Michael Jackson’s This Is It) came out later and still made the Top 10.