It was a week that belonged almost entirely to Drake. The Toronto rapper released three albums simultaneously and watched dozens of songs from those projects flood the Billboard charts all at once. In the middle of that storm, most artists had little choice but to slide. Michael Jackson, however, moved in the opposite direction.
The King of Pop placed 15 songs on this week’s Billboard Global Excl. U.S., the chart that tracks popularity across every country outside of America. Two of those songs did not just hold their ground. They climbed to positions they had never reached before.
Jackson pushes toward the top
The bigger of the two milestones belonged to Billie Jean, which rose from third to second place on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. It is the closest Jackson has ever come to topping that particular chart, stopped only by Swim, a track from South Korean group BTS, which held the top spot.
That Billie Jean is still rising at all is remarkable on its own. The song has now appeared on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. for 132 weeks, a stretch longer than all of Jackson’s other charting songs on that tally combined. Its staying power continues to outpace nearly everything else in the catalogue.
The second new peak came from Chicago, a song that entered the chart earlier in May as part of a broader surge connected to the release of the biographical film Michael. From a position of 100, it climbed 14 spots to settle at 86. For a song that has only appeared on the chart three times, that movement signals genuine momentum.
A catalogue that keeps performing
Jackson’s other 13 songs on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. lost ground this week, pulled down by the gravitational force of Drake’s mass debut. The declines ranged from modest to significant. Beat It dropped just one spot from its all-time peak of fifth to sixth. Others slipped by a dozen or more positions.
The full picture of where Jackson’s songs landed this week shows the remarkable breadth of a catalogue that continues to perform across generations. Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough sat at 18, Human Nature at 20, Smooth Criminal at 40, Bad at 50, Thriller at 59, Dirty Diana at 61 and They Don’t Care About Us at 62. Further down, The Way You Make Me Feel appeared at 93, You Rock My World at 125, Rock With You at 154, I Want You Back with The Jackson 5 at 154 and Man in the Mirror at 175.
Drake’s historic chart moment
While Jackson’s two rising songs stood out for their direction, Drake’s overall footprint on this week’s chart was historic. He debuted 22 songs at once on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S., with his highest new entry opening at fifth place. He claimed five of the top ten spots in a single frame, pushing his total career appearances on that chart to 125 songs.
The three simultaneous album releases, titled Iceman, Habibti and Maid of Honour, gave Drake an almost unprecedented level of chart saturation. The cover artwork for Iceman notably features a single studded glove, a clear visual nod to Jackson himself.
Why the peaks matter
In a week designed to be dominated by one artist, two songs released decades ago found a way to climb higher than they ever had before. For Jackson, whose catalogue has experienced a renewed wave of global attention following the release of his biopic, the chart movement reflects something deeper than algorithms or streaming counts.
It reflects a legacy that, even now, refuses to be outrun.
