The REAL King of Pop?

Yesterday at work, I got an e-mail about how Elvis Presley—"the REAL King of Entertainment"—was now beating on Michael Jackson in the afterlife for marrying his daughter.

Make of that what you will. But it did get me thinking: Which of these two is the real king of popular music? So I did a little research. In an attempt to maintain at least some kind of objectivity, I settled on three criteria:

1. Worldwide record sales


2. Singles that hit #1


3. Grammy awards won

The results have to be taken with a grain of salt. For one thing, Elvis's numbers are a bit sketchy because his success was already well underway before the Billboard Hot 100 era began in 1958. For another, worldwide sales for both are still happening (especially for MJ, who would no doubt have preferred his recent spike to have happened while he was alive).

Neverthless, let's see how our contestants stack up:

Artist	Sales	#1 Singles	Grammys
Elvis Presley	1 billion+	18	3
Michael Jackson	850 million*	18**	13

* 750 million solo plus 100 million with the Jackson 5
** 17 solo plus one with the Jackson 5

It seems likely that the King of Pop will eventually join the King of Rock 'n' Roll in the elite billion-plus sales club. Given Jackson's other stats, that would make him the true king.

But there's another who has a claim to this throne, easy to miss if you're only thinking about artists whose names are their brand. I didn't see it until I realized that I had to count MJ's work with his brothers as part of his total. But once I did, it became obvious that the REAL king of pop is not Elvis, and not Michael Jackson. It's Paul McCartney.

Don't believe me?

Artist	Sales	#1 singles	Grammys
Paul McCartney	1 billion+*	29**	13***
Elvis Presley	1 billion+	18	3
Michael Jackson	850 million	18	13

* includes over 100 million with Wings and solo
** 20 with the Beatles plus 9 with Wings and solo
*** 11 with the Beatles plus two with Wings