As we’ve spent yet another year dominated by the pandemic, you’d be forgiven for thinking Michael’s fans would take some time off. It was full steam ahead in MJ World as the most famous entertainer to ever live continued to dominate charts and polls around the globe. As expected, there was no official celebration for Dangerous 30 or Invincible 20 and nothing to mark the 25th Anniversary of Ghosts, yet MJ The Musical did finally open. Here’s our top picks for Michael Jackson – 2021 Year In Review.
MJVibe reveals the results of the inaugural ‘Michael Jackson Fans’ Ultimate Anthology Poll’ which asks fans to vote for their favourite Michael Jackson projects including Songs, albums & tours. The results revealed Billie Jean as the number one song, Smooth Criminal as the favourite short film and Dangerous as the favourite album.
PureArts and The Estate of Michael Jackson make their previously announced Smooth Criminal Lean statue available for purchase. The standard version is priced at $899 while the deluxe edition totals at $1399.
Lottery betting company Lottaland surveyed 2000 British people to identify the 60 best U.S exports. Michael Jackson made the list at number 36!
Two unworn Michael Jackson fedoras went up for auction as part of the MusiCares Charity Relief Auction. Hosted by Julien’s Auctions, the event was held to support people within the music industry who have been devastated by COVID-19.
It’s announced that Ganzhou, China will receive another Michael Jackson statue. Based loosely on the HIStory statue, this new interpretation is backed by lyrics from We Are The World.
Off The Wall is certified 9x Multi-Platinum by RIAA. This is the album’s first re-certification since August 2009 where it was certified 8x Multi-Platinum.
The Jacksons unveil Can You Feel It – Jacksons X MLK Remix – a new official remix of the 80s classic featuring iconic speeches from Martin Luther King and Barrack Obama. This version is one of several new remixes released by the Jacksons.
TikTok went BAD as a challenge to emulate Michael’s moves gripped the social media video platform. Set to his 1987 hit ‘Bad’, people all over the world jumped up on their toes to give their best Michael Jackson impression.
Organised by MJChartData, the #InvincibleStreamingParty was a huge success leading to the hashtag trending on Twitter.
Gifted to a Mr Sandy Saemann on the set of the 1989 L.A. Gear commercial, Michael Jackson’s penny loafers went up for auction on Las Vegas along with other items from the Jackson Family.
Produced in 2020 for the Australian market, which is largely and unfairly neglected by official entities, 2 new official Michael Jackson puzzles and 2 official Michael Jackson mug designs became available at King of Shop in April.
Long-term lawyer to Michael Jackson and the Estate, Howard Weitzman passes away after a battle with cancer. In more recent years, Weitzman had defended Michael and the Estate in its $100 million battle against HBO.
MTV marked its 40th Anniversary by announcing an exhibition at the GRAMMY Museum in Mississippi. To support the event, Hard Rock have loaned Michael’s iconic Dirty Diana outfit from the short film.
While we don’t want to litter this Year in Review with unnecessary trash and irrelevant people, it’s important to note that ‘that’ attempt to extort money from the Michael Jackson Estate was dismissed AGAIN in April this year.
UK radio station ask its listeners each year to vote for their top 500 all time songs. Michael placed 12 times over the full chart, including 2 in the top 5 – Billie Jean at #5 and Man In The Mirror at #3 – Both higher positions than the previous year!
There was a time when people looked at Michael strangely for wearing a mask – Now we all do it! And the Mumbai Police chose Michael as the face of their ‘mask up’ campaign in May.
Billie Jean short film hit One Billion views on YouTube, joining a unique club of artists who have achieved the same feat. This achievement was 100% the product of Michael’s fans, who came together to push this short film to its landmark result. Can you imagine Michael’s face if he’d learned Billie Jean had been watched One Billion times? Probably something like the image here.
The Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame inducted Michael on 17th June 2021 with an official stone being placed in Downtown Atlanta. Marlon Jackson was on hand to honour his brother and made a short speech.
French Radio station RFM choose to honour Michael on 25th June 2021, playing his music throughout the entire day.
29 years after the short film was released for Remember The Time, its influence is still seen in popular culture – this time through a performance by rapper Lil Nas X. Performing his single Montero at the BET awards, Nas X incorporated elements from Michael’s short film as well as parts of the dance breakdown and backing vocals from the 1992 classic.
To mark Vindication Day, The MJCast released episode 133 with special guest Carol LaMere. This episode adds further details to the series of events that took place in Michael’s life which led up to the trial. LaMere has long been a staunch defender of Michael and her appearance on this standout episode of The MJCast ensures her story reaches even more fans all over the world.
With the Tokyo 2020 Olympics finally taking place in 2021, Michael’s music is front and centre as usual, featuring in multiple categories across the games. It once again demonstrates just how Michael’s work continues to influence different disciplines.
As COVID restrictions began lifting, The Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium at Union Station Kansas started hosting a Michael Jackson Laser Show throughout July and August. Songs featured in the spectacle included Smooth Criminal, Billie Jean, P.Y.T and Black or White.
Belgium TV channels Tipik and Auvio both screen Moonwalker in honour of Michael’s Birthday.
Michael’s influence on the KPop phenomenon continued in 2021 as South Korean boyband BDC released a new single inspired by Michael titled ‘Moon Walker’. The accompanying music video featured many of Michael’s signature moves, with band member Hong Seong-jun stating “It’d be great if the public could remember us and follow us by thinking of Michael Jackson even for a moment,”
After closing for 17 months due to the pandemic, Michael Jackson ONE by Cirque Du Soleil made a triumphant return in time to celebrate Michael’s birthday with the annual birthday celebration. This year’s event featured a special screening of part of the HIStory World Tour and a live Q&A with Kenny Ortega.
Ahead of Michael’s birthday, RIAA who charts album sales in the U.S, re-certified Thriller 34x multi-platinum, re-affirming its position as the biggest selling studio album in American history. There’s still an outstanding question over the compilation album ‘Their Greatest Hits’ by the Eagles, which RIAA claims 10 million copies were sold between 2006 – 2018. The Estate called for a review of the numbers in 2018.
In August 2021, we learned of the sad news that MJNI founder Gloria Haydock had passed away. Haydock was well known in the UK fan community for King Magazine and helped many fans have the opportunity to meet Michael in person and see him perform live around the world. Her work changed the experience of being a fan and operating a fan space within the community and we are personally grateful for all she achieved.
For the second year in a row, Michael Jackson was voted NUMBER ONE in Smooth Radio’s Icon poll, beating audience favourite George Michael. Each year, Smooth ask their listeners to vote for their favourite Icon and they chose Michael!
The team behind Kingvention hosted their first Michael Jackson Birth Day Celebration in London. ‘Burn This Disco Out’ took place in a London cocktail bar and featured 7 hours of MJ music and dancing. Attended by 100 fans, it was the first MJ event to take place in the UK following the pandemic.
A previously unseen image by photographer Greg Gorman surfaced online in September. Showing Michael looking resplendent in traditional attire, the photo is an outtake from a unique shoot that Michael featured in during the BAD era.
Drag Race All Stars winner Kylie Sonique Love wore a replica of Michael’s famous Beat It Jacket and T-Shirt from the short film for the final group performance on the series finale, where she was crowned the winner. This is not the first time RuPaul’s Drag Race featured Michael-inspired outfits, as fan favourite ‘Heidi-N-Closet’ wore a glamourous modern take on Michael’s Smooth Criminal Outfit.
Fans in Austria continued to immortalise Michael with a uniquely designed Bench. Featuring Michael’s signature toes pose from the Jam Short Film, the bench is placed directly opposite the Michael Jackson statue fans had placed in the same park in Mistelbach.
Global Citizen Live Concerts took place around the world this year and actor Billy Porter and Chinese pianist Lang Lang were on hand to introduce a special performance of We Are The World. Introducing the performance, Porter acknowledged Michael’s extensive charitable giving as part of his speech.
BBC Sounds feature a special programme – ‘1Xtra Salutes Michael Jackson’. The one-hour radio show hosted by Nadia Jae included over 22 songs by Michael and the Jackson 5 and was available for 29 days exclusively.
After months of relative silence, The Estate resurfaced with a new, and left-of-field collaboration – Michael Jackson X Tokyo Giants. The Tokyo Baseball team released a range of apparel featuring Michael’s icon imagery as well as the team mascot in Michael’s signature poses. The collection designs were as you might have come to expect from official apparel – Basic.
Prince Jackson returned with his annual ‘Thriller Nights’ Halloween extravaganza with special guest Chris Tucker. As the Jackson compound at Hayvenhurst was transformed, two unique rooms featured exclusive artifacts from Michael’s life and career. All three of Michael’s children were in attendance to support this fantastic cause.
A special new remix of ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’ was released in time for Halloween. Released by Rockwell and Universal Music, the new remix produced Syzz was comprised exclusively of Michael’s vocal and made a great new addition to Michael Jackson Season!
Continuing a string of major achievements this year, Billie Jean reached 1 billion streams on Spotify, matching the same achievement reached with the short film on YouTube earlier in the year. There’s really no stopping his music this year!
Following a hugely successful Halloween, Thriller returned the Hot 100 charts at number 19, marking its highest position since its original chart run in 1984. This achievement ensures Michael has Hot 100 hits in 6 decades as a solo artist.
To Mark the 30th Anniversary of Dangerous, two special re-issued versions of the album were released on Vinyl. The black and red swirl edition is available in Europe and the limited edition Silver vinyl is released exclusively at Walmart in the U.S.
Legendary Photographer Albert Watson opened his new exhibition ‘Beauty & Style: The History of Fashion Photography’ in Moscow, Russia which included one of his now-famous photographs of Michael taken for the Invincible album shoot.
After almost two years of delays, cast changes, name changes and controversial comments, MJ The Musical finally opened for previews on Broadway. Selling out shows in its first week, the show has been praised by some fans who have attended.
So that’s your official 2021 run down. In 2022, Thriller turns 40 and there’s no question that we’ll see a re-edition of some sort and perhaps the long await Thriller documentary will finally be released. But most importantly, Michael’s fans will continue to find new and exciting ways to celebrate his genius, and we cannot wait to see what they come up with next!
Thank you for this review.
Special thoughts for Gloria Haydock.
Happy new yeat to everyone !
Sorry, I mean “Happy new yeaR to everyone ! “