Michael Jackson^†

He was performing in front of crowds before most kids his age had learned to read. As the lead voice of the Jackson 5, he hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with his first four singles before he turned 13. The real shift came with Off the Wall in 1979, his first album with producer Quincy Jones, which proved he could make pop music that didn't need the family name. Then Thriller dropped in 1982 and everything that had come before started to look like a warm-up. It became the best-selling album of all time and he debuted the moonwalk on national television to an audience of 47 million people. Fred Astaire called him afterward.

At his peak in the 1980s, he was the first Black artist to get serious rotation on MTV, which at the time was quietly segregating its playlist. He didn't just crack the format, he redefined what a music video could be. Thriller was the first to treat the short film as its own art form with its own budget and narrative. The 1993 child molestation allegations against him changed his public image permanently. He settled the civil suit, was later criminally charged in 2003, and was acquitted in 2005, but the scrutiny never really lifted. He spent his final years preparing a 50-show comeback residency in London called 'This Is It' that he never got to perform.

His father Joseph ran the Jackson 5 like a business from the start, which meant Michael was working before he had a childhood to miss. He later said the public mocking of his appearance as a kid, including his nose, left marks that never healed. He reportedly allowed the tabloids to run with invented rumors, understanding that any coverage kept his name in circulation. The Neverland Ranch, a personal amusement park and zoo built on his California property, became a symbol of how far outside normal life his wealth had taken him. He also quietly owned the Beatles' publishing catalog for years, a $47.5 million investment from 1985 that turned into the most valuable asset his estate held.

He died on June 25, 2009, from acute propofol intoxication administered by his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The memorial at the Staples Center drew an estimated 2.5 billion television viewers. His estate was $500 million in debt at the time of his death. By 2025, it was worth over $2 billion. A biographical film with his nephew Jaafar Jackson in the lead was scheduled for April 2026.