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Michael Jackson songs that received substantial airplay without being a single?

filmandmusic

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I only know of 2 songs: "Tell Me I'm Not dreaming" his duet with Jermaine which was picked up by radio stations without being released as a single. In fact it received so much airplay in 1985 that it charted top 10 on the airplay chart. If it had been released as a single it would have been at least a top 5 smash hit in the US.
Butterflies almost reached top 10 on airplay alone.

What other songs got lots of airplay?
 
"You Rock My World" peaked at number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was Jackson's last top-10 song in the United States in his lifetime;
The chart position of "You Rock My World"' was attained solely on airplay alone, as no commercial single was initially issued in the United States.
en.wikipedia.org

You Rock My World - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
The local R&B radio stations played these songs:

The Jacksons - Good Times
The Jacksons - Blues Away
The Jacksons - Things I Do For You
The Jacksons - Bless His Soul
The Jacksons - Everybody
The Jacksons - Ben (from Jacksons Live! album)
The Jacksons - The Hurt
The Jacksons - We Can Change The World
The Jacksons - One More Chance
The Jacksons - She
Working Day And Night
Get On The Floor
Girlfriend
I Can't Help It
Burn This Disco Out
Someone In The Dark
Can't Get Outta The Rain
Baby Be Mine
The Lady In My Life
Speed Demon
Can't Let Her Get Away
She Drives Me Wild
Why You Wanna Trip On Me
This Time Around
Heaven Can Wait

A few of them are still played today.
 
Well I mean how can it be a single when it is not commercially available?
 
filmandmusic said:
Well I mean how can it be a single when it is not commercially available?
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Hot_Street said:
The chart position of "You Rock My World"' was attained solely on airplay alone, as no commercial single was initially issued in the United States.
Click to expand...
When it's played on the radio.... Given artwork, usually a music video, and he performed it live.
 
filmandmusic said:
I only know of 2 songs: "Tell Me I'm Not dreaming" his duet with Jermaine which was picked up by radio stations without being released as a single. In fact it received so much airplay in 1985 that it charted top 10 on the airplay chart. If it had been released as a single it would have been at least a top 5 smash hit in the US.
Butterflies almost reached top 10 on airplay alone.

What other songs got lots of airplay?
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Butterflies actually hit number 2 on the Billboard R&B chart. Considering it got no promotion whatsoever, to hit 2 on that chart, and 14th on the Hot 100, I consider that astounding.
 
It's a difficult one because while some of HIStory's singles were released in other countries - technically, in the US, some of them weren't - so wouldn't class as singles, and did chart based on radio play etc.
 
I read that "Working Day and Night" got a good amount of airplay despite not being a single.

"You Rock My World" hitting no.10 and "Butterflies" no.14 solely on airplay isn't really impressive, btw. "Try Again" by Aaliyah and "Angel" by Shaggy hit no.1 solely on airplay in 2000. "Lady Marmalade" for the Moulin Rouge soundtrack in 2001 hit no.1 solely on airplay. And these are just no.1s; a lot of songs would hit the top 3 or top 5 solely on airplay ("Bye Bye Bye" by 'N Sync hit no.4 solely on airplay in 2000, "Kryptonite" by Three Doors Down hit no.3 solely on airplay in 2000, "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" by Mya hit no.2 solely on airplay in 2001, "Differences" by Ginuwine hit no.4 solely on airplay in 2001, etc).

By 2001, a lack of commercial release wasn't any excuse for a relatively low chart position; "You Rock My World" and "Butterflies" just weren't particularly popular songs. They would have peaked higher with commercial releases, of course, but it wouldn't have taken them long to drop out of the top ten altogether. MJ was far from his peak in 2001.

Mister_Jay_Tee said:
When it's played on the radio.... Given artwork, usually a music video, and he performed it live.
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That's not a single lol.

A single has to be released commercially. Anything can be performed in concert, played on the radio, given artwork and a video, but unless people are given the option of purchasing the song without buying the album, it's not a single.
 
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Spaceship said:
A single has to be released commercially. Anything can be performed in concert, played on the radio, given artwork and a video, but unless people are given the option of purchasing the song without buying the album, it's not a single.
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Most of it was released commercially and most of the songs were available independent of the album. At most they're canceled or limited singles.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Most of it was released commercially and most of the songs were available independent of the album. At most they're canceled or limited singles.
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They weren't released commercially or available outside of the album. Being played on radio isn't being released commercially. Buying the album was the only way you could legally obtain those songs.
 
Spaceship said:
They weren't released commercially or available outside of the album. Being played on radio isn't being released commercially. Buying the album was the only way you could legally obtain those songs.
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Well, maybe in America.
 
"You Rock My World" was technically a 12-inch vinyl single in the US. So, it was commercial, but the vinyl format was outdated in 2001. The lack of a commercial CD release meant its chart position was mainly attributed to airplay.

"Butterflies" was only released to radio airplay in the United States. It wasn't released commercially or to radio in any other country.

Do note that promotional singles aren't commercial singles.
 
Spaceship said:
By 2001, a lack of commercial release really wasn't any excuse for a relatively low chart position; "You Rock My World" and "Butterflies" just weren't particularly popular songs. They would have peaked higher with commercial releases, but it wouldn't have taken them long to drop out of the top ten altogether. MJ was from his peak in 2001.
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YRMW released commercially with 10 different covers would've worked wonders.
 
Do you think Butterflies feat. Eve could've been a #1 hit if it was a single?
 
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Mister_Jay_Tee said:
When it's played on the radio.... Given artwork, usually a music video, and he performed it live.
Click to expand...

Spaceship said:
That's not a single lol.

A single has to be released commercially. Anything can be performed in concert, played on the radio, given artwork and a video, but unless people are given the option of purchasing the song without buying the album, it's not a single.
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Not necessarily. There are commercial singles and promo or radio-only singles.

"A promotional single (digital single in South Korea) is a single that is made available to radio stations, nightclubs, music publications, and other media outlets by a record label to promote a commercial single or album."

Promotional recording - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

For example, Britney Spears' Radar was released as a promo single from Blackout and a commercial single from Circus. Both singles had their own artwork.

Michael Jackson's "Dangerous" album track got some airplay, charted, and was later remixed.

Dangerous (Michael Jackson song) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Given artwork
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Not necessarily. A lot of 45s only came in a plain white sleeve (or one with the record label logo on it) with a hole cut in the middle so the buyer could see what it was. Maxi singles were often released this way too.
 
DuranDuran said:
Not necessarily. A lot of 45s only came in a plain white sleeve (or one with the record label logo on it) with a hole cut in the middle so the buyer could see what it was. Maxi singles were often released this way too.
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No, not necessarily. I never said necessarily. Just like music videos.
 
Arckangel said:
There are commercial singles and promo or radio-only singles.
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Radio-only songs aren't considered singles, just tracks.

Songs are that promotionally released are technically singles but when people talk about singles, they're usually just about commercially released ones. Promos get ignored as they're very limited releases.
 
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