Billboard: MJ's 'Billie Jean' #14 With A Bullet

A week after becoming the first artist to reach the Billboard Hot 100's top 10 in five different decades (and six including his work with the Jackson 5), as "Love Never Felt So Good," with Justin Timberlake zoomed 22-9, Michael Jackson makes news again, as his 1983 No. 1 "Billie Jean" returns.

The song re-enters at No. 14 thanks to the popularity of a viral video featuring the track.

Meanwhile, Jackson scores his milestone 50th Hot 100 hit, as "Slave to the Rhythm," from his new album "Xscape," debuts at No. 45.



Billboard reports "Billie Jean" revisits the Hot 100 with 95 percent of its chart points from streaming, thanks to the stylings of Brett Nichols, a junior at Pitman High School in Turlock, Calif. Nichols performed Jackson's iconic dance sequence from 1983's "Motown 25" TV special for his school's talent show, with the clip featuring the song's original audio. The video went viral and Jackson's classic bows on Streaming Songs with 11.2 million U.S. streams in the week ending May 25 (a 320 percent surge), according to Nielsen BDS. It debuts with 95 percent of its streams from YouTube (non-Vevo) activity.

"Billie Jean," from "Thriller," the best-selling studio album of all time (it's been certified 29 times Platinum by to the RIAA), spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in a 24-week run in 1983. It and 1991's "Black or White" mark the longest reigns of Jackson's 13 Hot 100 No. 1s, the most leaders among solo males.