№ 13 · SONG
First-Ever Hot 100 Debut at #1
You Are Not Alone, September 2, 1995
MICHAEL JACKSON
The King of Pop
★ RARE
← MICHAEL JACKSON
CARD N° 13 · SONG · ★ RARE
First-Ever Hot 100 Debut at #1
You Are Not Alone, September 2, 1995
№ 13 SONG
First-Ever Hot 100 Debut at #1
In the 37-year history of the Billboard Hot 100, no song had ever debuted at number one. Michael's You Are Not Alone — written and produced by R. Kelly — did it on September 2, 1995. The rules of the chart had to be rewritten the following year because of him.
▶ THE MOMENT
Michael Jackson — You Are Not Alone (Official Video, 1995)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBat6PRcUgo
MICHAEL JACKSON · B·SIDE · VOL.I
HOVER TO FLIP
THE FACT
In the 37-year history of the Billboard Hot 100, no song had ever debuted at number one. Michael's You Are Not Alone — written and produced by R. Kelly — did it on September 2, 1995. The rules of the chart had to be rewritten the following year because of him.
WHAT MOST DON'T KNOW
Before 1991 the Hot 100 measured airplay through retailer reports and radio surveys, which made a #1 debut effectively impossible — a song needed weeks to climb because reports were lagged. When SoundScan and Broadcast Data Systems began providing real-time point-of-sale and airplay data in 1991, the door opened. Even then, four years passed without a #1 debut. You Are Not Alone broke through partly because Michael's fanbase pre-ordered the single in huge quantities, partly because his label Epic released it on a Tuesday timed to the chart cut-off, and partly because — in retrospect — the song was very good. Billboard altered its methodology in 1998 to prevent the strategy from being gamed, requiring songs to also chart on radio airplay before counting first-week sales fully. In total only about 50 songs have ever debuted at #1 since; Michael's was the first.
▶
THE MOMENT
Michael Jackson — You Are Not Alone (Official Video, 1995) — Filmed with Lisa Marie Presley at Neverland and a rented Italian villa.