Michael Jackson: All the Top 40 Hits

Book excerpt: Michael Jackson first entered a recording studio in November 1967, just three months after his ninth birthday. Two years later, with his brothers, he scored his first no.1 single, I Want You Back. Since then, solo and with his brothers, Michael has achieved an incredible one hundred Top 40 Singles, sixty Top 40 Albums and fifteen Top 40 Music Videos. He has also contributed to numerous other hit singles, including We Are The World, Somebody's Watching Me and State Of Independence, and THRILLER is widely acknowledged as the world's no.1 best-selling album of all-time.For the purposes of this book, to qualify as a Top 40 hit, a single, album or music video must have entered the Top 40 chart in at least one of the featured countries. The Top 40 hits are detailed chronologically, according to the date they first entered the chart in one or more of the featured countries. Each Top 40 single, album and music video is illustrated and the catalogue numbers and release dates are detailed, for both the USA and UK, followed by the chart runs in each featured country.The main listings are followed by 'The Almost Top 40 Singles/Albums', which gives an honourable mention to singles/albums that peaked between no.41-50 in one or more countries, but which failed to enter the Top 40 in any. There is also a points-based list of the Top 40 singles, Top 25 albums and Top 10 music videos, plus a fascinating Trivia section, which looks at the most successful singles, albums and music videos in each of the featured countries.