Did the Scream single underperform on the charts?

[filmandmusic]

I Just Can't Stop Loving You and Black Or White both were smash nr 1 hits in the US and countries in Europe both reaching the prestigious transatlantic nr 1 spot (US/UK nr 1).

One would expect a brother/sister collaboration with the then massively popular Janet Jackson in the US would be a dead certain nr 1 hit. After debuting at nr 5 you would simply expect it to rise to nr 1 in the following week but it stalled.

The same decent performance was reached all over Europe. Scream climbed high but not to nr 1 and it even dropped down fairly quickly. For such an anticipated single wit the then 2 biggest pop stars on the planet it was simply disappointing.

So what went wrong here? It is especially noteworthy that the following dime a dozen meek ballad You Are Not Alone did in fact reach nr 1. Scream did get favorable critical reviews but maybe it was simply not catchy enough to light up the charts? Maybe the sound was a bit too futuristic? I remember well I didn't really know what to think of it myself back in the day, it sounded unlike anything else at the time to me. Lyrically and vocally maybe the people wanted more of a "song" and not an angry loud futuristic jam.

You could say it has not stood the test of time either as it is completely forgotten by the radio (unlike YANA, Earth Song and TDCAA that still get occasional spins) and even fans of both artists don't talk about it much.

 

[Bogdan]

The timing of the video release had something to do with it (scream single was released to radio and retail prior to the video release by about a month). Yana had one month of airplay and video before the single was released.

And yes IJCSLY didn't have a video. But that was the first single from the Thriller follow up. while scream was the first single released after the 93 allegations

 

[Annita]

You could say it has not stood the test of time either as it is completely forgotten by the radio (unlike YANA, Earth Song and TDCAA that still get occasional spins) and even fans of both artists don't talk about it much.

I don`t know about talk but concerning Janet Scream is one of her most popular songs on spotify and youtoube and it is allways on her playlist in concert.

 

[AlwaysThere]

“Scream” reached the top five in every major music market, including the U.S., where it became the first song to debut at #5. It has gold, silver, and platinum certifications. If you’re holding it to MJ’s own standards, you could qualify it as an underperformance, sure.

As for why, there are many reasons. MJ lost plenty of public goodwill after the allegations, and there seemed to be some hesitation to reclaim him within the pop echelon. Beyond that, it’s virtually unheard of for recording artists to maintain consistent commercial success over multiple decades, especially when your brand of success was as unparalleled as MJ’s was. It didn’t help that he took many multi-year breaks between projects; it’s very easy to lose your grip on pop culture if you don’t keep up on it. Furthermore, while I love “Scream,” it’s a very unique and non-radio-friendly song for 1995. Looking at that year’s most popular songs, It doesn’t surprise me that “You Are Not Alone” had more of an impact culturally and commercially.

In terms of Janet’s involvement, I don’t think things like that pushed the needle much in the late 20th century. “The Girl Is Mine” only hit #2, despite featuring a former Beatle. Stevie Wonder’s “Get It” stalled at #80, even though MJ was at his cultural and commercial peak at the time of its release. “Whatzupwitu” did even worse.

There are a million factors that come into play when a single is released, and many weren’t in MJ’s favor at the time. And that’s okay.

 

[michaelsson]

It literally debuted in the top 5 and broke a record a song not going number 1 doesnt mean it underperforms.

 

[filmandmusic]

i haven’t seen a satisfying plausible answer yet

 

[filmandmusic]

It literally debuted in the top 5 and broke a record a song not going number 1 doesnt mean it underperforms.

It did because after the debut it only dropped down in the following weeks while in that era a song was usually growing in popularity before it peaked. Meaning this song got hyped up which resulted into a high debut but then it seemed the audience didn’t warm up to the song and radio play quickly dropped as a result.

 

[R1chard]

It did well enough. Number one in 13 countries, and top 3 or something in lots of other countries.

There isn't a formula where you can calculate or guarantee what chart position you will get. Scream simply didn't get to #1, that's all. No big deal. Sometimes you're just unlucky.

It really doesn't matter.

Also, regarding whether it climbed following release, in the UK there was a period of about 10 years where EVERY song entered at its peak position, and always dropped in the 2nd week. The shelf-life of every single was literally 48 hours.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

i haven’t seen a satisfying plausible answer yet

We have literally already had this discussion before. You're spinning your wheels.

Anyway the song leaked before it was released as a single. That always takes away from a songs success.

 

[filmandmusic]

We have literally already had this discussion before. You're spinning your wheels.

You took the effort of responding to this thread, you wasted your own time, I did not.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

You took the effort of responding to this thread, you wasted your own time, I did not.

I gave you the facts. All my things is Fax.

 

[kreen]

i haven’t seen a satisfying plausible answer yet

It did underperform, as the brand-new single from the new Michael Jackson album was obviously expected to hit number one and stay high in the charts for a long time.

I remember that many people reacted negatively to the lyrics, in the sense that here was MJ presenting himself as a victim of people's injustice towards him, playing the part of a martyr. They thought that it was MJ's own fault if people saw him as weird and even worse.

Also, although I like the song, it is really more of a "production" than a catchy song, so it probably didn't have enough of a strong melodic hook to be a huge hit.

 

[Hot_Street]

Scream isn't exactly what you would call a classic pop hit. The song is very tailored to a time period in a singer's life. So 5th place is pretty good.

 

[@mjfanatic777]

while scream was the first single released after the 93 allegations

that probably answers the question right there

 

[filmandmusic]

while scream was the first single released after the 93 allegations

gone too soon was. But possibly not in the States, not sure

 

[DuranDuran]

It is especially noteworthy that the following dime a dozen meek ballad You Are Not Alone did in fact reach nr 1.

There's always been very popular ballads and/or adult contemporary songs, no matter what the trend was. Such as Feelings (Morris Albert) & You Light Up My Life (Debby Boone) during the disco & arena rock era of the 1970s. There's Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You or Boyz II Men songs while grunge was hot. During the 1990s, Celine Dion & Garth Brooks were popular too. Nothing experimental about Garth Brooks' music, just country songs that appeal to heartland America (aka Bible Belt), which is a lot of folks. A lot of people don't realize that there are way more small towns & rural areas in the US than large cities. That's where country music and Americana/heartland rock like Bob Seger & John Cougar Mellencamp tend to be popular.

In the 1960s, there was The Lawrence Welk Show on TV during British Invasion, Motown, & psychedelic rock. The Ed Sullivan Show was middle of the road too, but did have young popular acts. Many of the most post popular songs by 1980s rock bands were "power ballads" and Kenny G's smooth jazz records were big sellers of the 1980s. Often these kinds of songs remain popular long past their original release because people use them for weddings & family gatherings. You Are Not Alone is a better use for this than They Don't Care About Us. The same thing happens for Christmas songs like Last Christmas & All I Want For Christmas Is You. As Paul McCartney once said, there's nothing wrong with silly love songs, lol.

 

[Piek]

And yes IJCSLY didn't have a video. But that was the first single from the Thriller follow up. while scream was the first single released after the 93 allegations

The allegations didn't stop You Are Not Alone and Earth Song to reach number 1 (Earth Song outside the US). So the public didn't have any hesitation to buy Michael's music. I think they simply didn't like Scream the way they liked other songs. May be we shouldn't overcomplicate this matter. Scream just wasn't as popular.

 

[Bogdan]

gone too soon was. But possibly not in the States, not sure

Yes technically gone too soon was released dec 1 1993 but the video had already been released before that and the live performance was almost a year earlier and it was the 9th single from an album more than 2 years old.

 

[michaelsson]

It did because after the debut it only dropped down in the following weeks while in that era a song was usually growing in popularity before it peaked. Meaning this song got hyped up which resulted into a high debut but then it seemed the audience didn’t warm up to the song and radio play quickly dropped as a result.

Its a double platinum single with a top 5 debut that broke a record And won awards and was raved by critics…it didnt underperform. Not to mention it had no live performances outside of the medley at the mtv awards. Yall literally worry about the wrong things and things that dont matter. That song and video wax the talk if u werent around at the tine then shhh.

 

[whyyouwannatrip]

I mean I see where you are coming from as the song was hyped up a lot on MTV and it was a song by Michael freaking Jackson who had (and still has) a large following and a lot of billboard hot 100 number 1 hits. Not only that, it also had his sister who was huge in the 90s who had also generated quite a few number 1 hits in the USA so I can see why it’s suprising why it didn’t hit number 1 but it did debut at number 5 which is huge and it was still within the top 10 and they had won a MTV VMA award in 1995 for it too. It still had success but the 1993 allegations definitely were a factor of the song not hitting number 1 in the United States.

 

[mj_frenzy]

One would expect a brother/sister collaboration with the then massively popular Janet Jackson in the US would be a dead certain nr 1 hit.

it also had his sister who was huge in the 90s who had also generated quite a few number 1 hits in the USA so I can see why it’s suprising why it didn’t hit number 1

Janet Jackson was massively popular in the US at that time, but 'Scream' was not a typical style of song for her.

'Scream' was not a typical style of song also for Michael Jackson, which explains why that duet eventually did not reach No1 in the US charts.

It is especially noteworthy that the following dime a dozen meek ballad You Are Not Alone did in fact reach nr 1.

Note that US charts at that time were dominated by RnB songs, that is why 'You Are Not Alone' became such an instant No1 hit in US.

It still had success but the 1993 allegations definitely were a factor of the song not hitting number 1 in the United States.

Another important factor was that 'Scream' was a song out of Michael Jackson's commercial safety zone, as music critic Jon Pareles remarked.