How famous was Michael Jackson at his peak?

[MariaO]

I was born in the late 90's, so I never really experienced his fame aside from his death. I'm a huge fan of his. But how famous was he at his height exactly?

[FearlessMastermind271]

There was simply nobody bigger at the time, no one even came close....It can't really be explained....It was like Beatlemania all over again

[Gabriel]

Jesus was third behind breathing and Michael Jackson. The entire world loved him, even zygote loved him, Chuck Norris had a Michael Jackson t-shirt and footy pajamas, Buddah and Shiva would fight over who was a bigger M.J. fan, George Clooney would have banged him, aliens wanted to destroy the planet but heard "Thriller" and decided they'd wait until M.J. was gone before shooting... He was kind of a big deal...

[Michelle]

During Thriller, very big. I was about eight at the time and he was spoken about like a legend, any of his new videos was a major sensation, everyone studied the dance moves and tried to do them especially the moonwalk but nobody I knew could haha. I thought the guy was almost superhuman and never would've thought he'd be dead from an overdose at 50.

This was before all the Internet and before MJ music videos were very cheaply made, he made them into mini movies that told a story and launched the whole MTV era. Plus everyone wanted to see what his next look would be, his physical appearance would change a lot.

Where I lived the major highlight of the week was watching the top 10 countdown on TV each week, MJ was always there. So he pretty much dominated. It's much harder for an entertainer to do that now just because there's so much more media available. Also, we didn't know quite so much about celebrities lives back then, they sorta seemed like a species from another planet. Now they put pictures of their naked butts on Twitter lol.

This was when I was very young, I became more a grunge fan later on. At his peak MJ was huge but everything seemed to change after he burned his head. He started to become more infamous for rumors about him and changing color of his skin.

[Luke]

Probably the most famous person on the planet, not a day went but with there being something about him on tv or newspapers. Sadly that's what probably made him go a little crazy as he had too much to live up to and everyone around him said yes all the time instead of being true friends.

[Jay]

One of the most famous people who ever lived.

I was lucky enough to see him a few times in the 1980s on his Bad tour. The hysteria was mind blowing (and that was just from me lol). He was a great singer, dancer, performer, songwriter - the list goes on.. Unlike a lot of acts today he deserved his fame.

I don't think there will ever be another act who reaches the heights of fame he did. The only ones that come to mind are both in the past - The Beatles and Elvis Presley. No-one else has created such hysteria wherever they go.

Bands like One Direction may become famous, but they did it all without even knowing each other beforehand or working their way up. It's really not the same, and they don't create the same attention that Michael did.

An amazing man who helped shape music (especially videos) to what they are today.

[John N]

Jay said it best, but in addition to One Direction, forgot to include Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift.