The King of Pop has another jewel to add to his crown: Michael, the Lionsgate biopic covering Michael Jackson’s early life and ascension, is now the highest-grossing biopic of all time, having just surpassed the holy grail of $1 billion at the box office. As is the case with successful music biopics, the film also fueled an interest in Jackson’s music that allowed the singer to once again reach the top of the Billboard charts.
The film’s path shares several parallels with Bohemian Rhapsody, the 2018 film about the band Queen that also became the highest-grossing biopic at the time, generated renewed interest in the band’s catalog and even became the most accoladed film at the 2019 Academy Awards.
Although Michael is still in theaters, the film’s impact on Jackson’s streaming performance so far suggests that the King of Pop is poised to see similar long-term shifts that Queen enjoyed following its Hollywood hit.
Bohemian Rhapsody’s record-breaking triumph proved to be an insightful case study on the impact of a successful biopic on an artist’s legacy and listenership. It’s common for a music biopic to generate a spike in streaming consumption, but in the case of Queen, the film generated a post-spike lift in the band’s listenership that persists to this day.
Luminate data shows the band received around 10 million weekly streams prior to Bohemian Rhapsody, but following spikes around the film’s release and the Academy Awards (where Rami Malek took home Best Actor for his portrayal of frontman Freddie Mercury), the band’s weekly tallies settled in the 20 million range.
The trend suggests the film grew the band’s reach and long-term fanbase — not an easy feat for a group considered one of the greatest and most beloved rock acts well before Bohemian Rhapsody hit theaters. The film’s success plus the long-term streaming growth were almost certainly key factors in the band closing the first billion-dollar, single-artist catalog deal with Sony Music in 2024.
Coincidentally, Sony also purchased a stake in Jackson’s catalog for $600 million in 2024. While the biopic was in production before then, it’s likely Sony and the Jackson estate’s goal with the film was to pull off a similar feat to that of Bohemian Rhapsody, thus increasing the Jackson catalog’s value.
That goal was certainly accomplished from a box office perspective, and so far, Jackson’s listenership is following a remarkably similar trajectory to Queen’s post-movie boost. Jackson saw a 143.6% increase in U.S. On-Demand Audio (ODA) streams between the week before (49.9M) and week of Michael’s release (121.6M; note that Luminate groups weeks from Friday to Thursday).
Weekly ODA streams peaked two weeks later at 172M (+472.1% YoY) and had decayed only 16% four weeks later. Back in 2018, Queen’s U.S. ODA streams saw a 155.4% increase the week of the film’s release (from 24.2M to 61.9M), peaked a week later (64.7M, +662.4 YoY) and declined 31.6% four weeks from that crest.
With the known numbers so far, it’s looking like Jackson’s catalog may very well achieve a Queen-like listenership surge that lasts well beyond the movie’s release cycle. But there are some key factors where the impact remains to be seen: For one, Bohemian Rhapsody’s Oscar tally prompted a second spike in Queen’s streams around the Oscars.
While Jaafar Jackson’s well-received portrayal of his uncle could land an acting nom, Michael’s largely negative critical response may make it a longshot for the major categories. And Jackson’s cultural legacy is complicated at best. The film has seemingly gained him a more sympathetic public perception, but the “separating art from the artist” dilemma may ultimately keep potential listeners away for good.
