With the Return of “Billie Jean,” Did Michael Do Something Only He’s Done Before?
(May 7, 2026) – Michaelmania is happening all over again!
Just thirteen days after its theatrical release, Michael has grossed nearly $500 million worldwide, while Jackson’s Thriller album has surged back into the Billboard top ten and next week appears headed to its first top-five appearance since 1984, based on early sales and streaming projections.
But it’s the return of Thriller’s biggest hit — “Billie Jean” — to this week’s Hot 100 top 40 that has produced perhaps the strangest chart scenario in Billboard history.
With its re-entry at No. 38, Jackson becomes the only deceased artist currently in the Hot 100’s top tier. Yet none of the other artists sharing the top 40 with him were even alive when “Billie Jean” first charted 43 years ago.
Said another way, MJ is the only artist in this week’s Top 40 who was alive when “Billie Jean” first charted, and he’s the only one in the current Top 40 who wasn’t alive to see its return.
This may be the first non-holiday-related instance of that occurring in the chart’s history, which dates back to August 1958, the same month Jackson was born.
The oldest living act in this week’s top 40 is Bruno Mars, born on October 8, 1985 — more than two years after “Billie Jean” completed its legendary top-40 run in May 1983.
Indeed, “Billie Jean” is now competing on the same chart with artists young enough to be Jackson’s grandchildren — and, in some cases, whose parents may not even have been born when the song was No. 1.
Further punctuating this anomaly: when Jackson died in June 2009, the only artist in this week’s top 40 who’d already started charting was Taylor Swift, whose Hot 100 career began in 2006.
It’s worth noting that there have been many occasions where artists have returned to the top 40 posthumously, but rarely have they involved a song recorded before any of the chart’s other occupants were born…and where the artist in question is the only deceased artist on the list. In fact, the only other instance of this happening previously (to this blogger’s knowledge) involves another Jackson song. Last November, the late King of Pop returned “Thriller” to the Top 40 as part of its now-annual Halloween resurgence, joining a Top 40 containing artists who had not been born when the iconic song first charted.
Whether this oddity is truly unprecedented for non-holiday-related tunes (like “Billie Jean”) may require a deeper Billboard archive dive. But even in a chart history filled with improbable statistics, this one feels especially surreal.
The man who recorded “Billie Jean” is no longer here, yet the song itself remains very much alive.
And somehow, more than four decades after moonwalking into pop immortality, Michael Jackson is still finding new ways to make Billboard history.
It’s just another unique piece of pop trivia that Jackson adds to his long list of Billboard accomplishments.
DJRob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.
You can also register for free by selecting the menu bars above to receive notifications of future articles.
You simply cannot deny how G R E A T this song is.❤
Indeed! I’m glad it’s the one reaping the greatest benefits from the movie’s success (as opposed to “Thriller”).