Airplay for Michael Jackson’s biggest hits, and some of his overlooked gems (including a few dozen spins for some of the Jackson’s Christmas songs), blanketed airwaves from coast to coast immediately after his death on Thursday, and continued throughout the weekend.
According to research provided by Nielsen BDS of monitored airplay from over 1,600 terrestrial and satellite radio stations, 143 of Jackson’s recordings totaled 67,383 plays for the week ending June 28, up 1,735% from last week’s sum of 3,671 plays.
Related
After having just one song, “Rock With You,” post more than 500 plays in the week prior to his death, 22 of Jackson’s tracks eclipsed 1,000 plays this past week, led by his biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit, “Billie Jean” (4,500 spins). That total places the track at No. 51 among all current or recurrent titles for the week.
Here is a list of the 10 most played Michael Jackson songs for the week of June 22 to June 28.
Title Hot 100 Peak Year TW Plays LW Plays
1) Billie Jean #1 (7 wks) 1983 4,540 318
2) Thriller #4 1984 3,570 39
3) Rock With You #1 (4 wks) 1980 3,546 520
4) Don’t Stop ‘Til #1 (1 wk) 1979 3,135 419
5) P.Y.T. #10 1983 2,986 291
6) Beat It #1 (3 wks) 1983 2,852 139
7) Man In Mirror #1 (2 wks) 1988 2,827 27
8) Wanna Be Start #5 1983 2,493 199
9) The Way You #1 (1 wk) 1988 2,387 171
10) Human Nature #7 1983 2,175 124