Michael Jackson is climbing back into the upper tier of the Billboard 200 in a major way. Fueled by renewed attention surrounding the upcoming Michael biopic, the late icon places two albums inside this week’s top 10, led by Thriller rising from No. 7 to No. 5 and the 2003 compilation Number Ones jumping 13-6.
Both projects earned 62,000 equivalent album units during the tracking week dated May 16, though Number Ones posted the sharper gain with a 65% increase. The collection’s return carries historic significance: it becomes Jackson’s 11th career top 10 album and officially gives him at least one newly-charting top 10 project in every decade since the 1970s as a solo artist.
That achievement places Jackson in exceptionally rare company. Only four other acts have managed the same feat across six consecutive decades: The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, and James Taylor. Jackson’s streak stretches from Ben in 1972 through Number Ones in the 2020s.
His Billboard history remains one of the strongest ever recorded. Ben first cracked the top five in 1972 before Off the Wall pushed him into disco-era superstardom at the end of the decade. The 1980s cemented his commercial dominance through Thriller and Bad, both of which spent multiple weeks at No. 1 and helped redefine the global scale of pop music. Jackson later extended that momentum with Dangerous, HIStory, Invincible, and posthumous releases like Michael and Xscape.
Elsewhere on this week’s Billboard 200, Noah Kahan secures a second week at No. 1 with The Great Divide after earning 163,000 equivalent album units. Ella Langley holds steady at No. 2 with Dandelion, while Kacey Musgraves lands at No. 3 as Middle of Nowhere debuts with 100,000 units, marking the biggest opening week of her career by total consumption.
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