Popmatters: 1989 very similar to Thriller

[StrawberryBlond 13,299]

Oh, please. I don't even like Thriller (think it's probably the most overrated album of all time, so sue me) but even I think this is utterly ridiculous. Biggest selling album of all time vs. the bestselling album of last year - don't make me laugh by trying to pit them against each other in terms of impact. Vevo views barely mean anything now and if they were around in Michael's time, he'd probably be at several billion views per video. The songs from 1989 will die out completely after a few years yet those Thriller songs have lived on for over 3 decades. Honestly, when I listened to the album properly in full, there really wasn't much to listen to as I'd heard practically the entire thing anyway over the years in single form. Because those songs are so engrained in our culture that you'll hear them regardless of your age and generation. That is the sign of the biggest kind of impact there is - you just know these songs and who sang them, without being educated about them. Come on, Thriller is played by millions every year on Halloween, that's an impact of a higher plane. That video was the first mini movie music video and probably one of the first ever controversial music videos. Taylor's videos haven't broken the mould in any way - if anything, they're rather boring. And it may shock the American fans, but seriously, the rest of the world doesn't treat her as that big of a deal. The worldwide performance of Style, Bad Blood and Wildest Dreams should tell you all you need to know, as do her still extremely limited selection of international tour dates.

So many pop albums have had impact since Thriller - lots of Madonna albums, She's So Unusual, Purple Rain, some Janet Jackson albums, a lot of Britney albums, Stripped, Back To Basics, Justin Timberlake's albums, maybe some by Beyonce and Rihanna if you'd consider them pop. And of course, TF/TFM. Most of them have had impact that 1989 could only dream of. Most of the songs from these albums are still played years later and citied as ahead of their time and timeless. I doubt 1989 will get the same treatment. It's too on trend to be timeless, too much of a sell-out to be remembered fondly, too bland to warrant listening years later. I'm really interested to see what Taylor's first ever greatest hits album will look like as the majority of them will be completely unknown by most of the world and the majority will be American hits, meaning there might be regional variations. The US could have a double disc edition - one disc with her country songs and the other with her pop songs but international versions wil just have one disc of the pop that made her relevant.

[Kermit 15,807]

You should not compare THRILLER and "1989"

 

 

that's just stupid...So some pop girl's repetitive sound beats the king of pop's masterpiece? i'm so done with pop culture it's not even funny.

[Kattys 4,319]

And it may shock the American fans, but seriously, the rest of the world doesn't treat her as that big of a deal. The worldwide performance of Style, Bad Blood and Wildest Dreams should tell you all you need to know, as do her still extremely limited selection of international tour dates.

 

exactly what i was trying to say. thanks

[Yanko 9,860]

a mess lmao 

[Kacey Elizabeth 900]

TFM reminded me of Thriller tbh in terms of slayage 

but i agree that 1989 is one of the most impactful pop albums but not the most 

 21 and TFM have had greater impact than 1989 

1989 has no impact. The end.

[bionic 37,978]

Taylor's career continues to be local and have little no no impact.  

[Kacey Elizabeth 900]

Shake It Off - 1 Billion Views

Blank Space - 1 Billion Views

Bad Blood - 1/2 Billion Views

Truly her Billie Jean, Beat It and Thriller. 

 

That doesn't mean that it had impact. Are you even serious? 

[Kacey Elizabeth 900]

Okay

I ADORE Taylor (obviously), but... nah.

I absolutely love 1989, and it's an outstanding pop album, even better for a first, and I will definitely be listening to it in years to come, as will a lot of other people, but I don't know if it will have that huge long-lasting impact that Thriller had. I don't think it's possible so early into her Pop career, I mean, it took MJ 10 years in his solo Pop career to achieve Thriller, while this is only Taylor's first pop album. There is no denying that she's already a huge force in the pop world, but I don't think that she's in a state in her pop career where she can achieve the cultural and musical impact of Thriller. I have no doubt in my mind that she's capable of doing it in a few years, and there is no doubt in my mind that she will keep releasing quality album after quality album, but as of now, the cultural impact of 1989 simply isn't there for me.

What is this deluded hater  

3 semi-local SMASH albums, 2 worldwide huge albums (She currently holds the number 2 and 3 spot for worldwide debut sales) 

She has a large number of hits under her belt:

Love Story, YBWM, WANEGBT, IKYWT, SIO, BS, BB. Nobody is just 'forgotten' after 7 massive hits. 

Her 1989 world tour is coming close to beating MADONNA for her tour tickets record, also coming close to grossing 200 million, with 3/4 tours grossing 100 million +? No smashing tours, right?  

--

I hope the other Swifties don't come for me, y'all know I love Taylor to death :poordat: 

With 95% of those "worldwide" sales coming from the U.S. 

Those hits are barely remembered or cared about outside of her fanbase. 

[Redstreak 6,651]

Can you imagine if MJ was still alive he'd probably be one of the guests on the 1989 World Tour  They could have done a mash-up of Thriller/1989 songs. The King and Queen of pop on stage together. It would have been too much  

[Pop 4,541]

Can you imagine if MJ was still alive he'd probably be one of the guests on the 1989 World Tour  They could have done a mash-up of Thriller/1989 songs. The King and Queen of pop on stage together. It would have been too much  

I can see him being very impressed with how perfectly executed the album was and I'm sure he would be a huge fan of the Bad Blood video. 

[Bleachella 2,932]

Those hits are barely remembered or cared about outside of her fanbase. 

Whatever you say, I guess. 

[Kacey Elizabeth 900]

Can you imagine if MJ was still alive he'd probably be one of the guests on the 1989 World Tour  They could have done a mash-up of Thriller/1989 songs. The King and Queen of pop on stage together. It would have been too much  

MJ would never do it. Let's all get out of our little delusional worlds and live in the reality instead. Queen of Pop? Where? You mean Madonna? She wasn't mentioned in the OP or anywhere in this thread. Why are you mentioning her? 

[Redstreak 6,651]

I can see him being very impressed with how perfectly executed the album was and I'm sure he would be a huge fan of the Bad Blood video. 

He probably would have also been really impressed with how she handled the Apple Music situation 

[Pop 4,541]

With 95% of those "worldwide" sales coming from the U.S. 

Those hits are barely remembered or cared about outside of her fanbase. 

Taylor sold 6,8 million copies of her albums outside of the US.

That's hardly 5%.

Back to preschool with you. 

[Spock 20,290]

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