Jan 4th in Pop History

On this day, January 4th in:

1992: Michael Jackson continued to own the top song on the charts with Black Or White, # 1 for a fourth straight week.

Black or White is a single by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson. The song was released by Epic Records on November 11, 1991, as the first single from his eighth studio album, Dangerous (1991). He co-wrote, composed, and produced it with Bill Bottrell and it is also a variant of The Beatles’ George Harrison tune, It’s All Too Much from their Yellow Submarine album. The song is a fusion of pop rock, dance, and hip hop. Epic Records described the song as "a rock 'n' roll dance song about racial harmony".

Black or White peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 7, 1991, making it the fastest chart topper, in the USA, since The Beatles’ Get Back. It stayed there for a total of seven weeks. Jackson became the first artist to have number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s with the song. It is certified 2x Platinum (2 million in sales).

Around the world, Black or White hit number one in 20 countries (including the US, the UK, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Turkey, Zimbabwe, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland). It was the best-selling single worldwide of 1992. The music video for Black or White premiered on MTV, BET, VH1, and Fox, which gave them their highest Nielsen ratings ever at the time.

(A trivial correction to pop culture legend…) The song's main riff, played by Bill Bottrell, is often incorrectly attributed to Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash. Slash's guitar playing however is actually heard in the skit that precedes the album version of the song, and he did play the main riff during some live performances of the song.

Hear it on Spotify:

Black or White • Michael Jackson

Also, on January 4th…

1936: Billboard magazine debuted the first music chart that based results on national sales.

1965: Gary Lewis & the Playboys released their first career single This Diamond Ring. Also, on this date in 1965: Leo Fender sold the Fender Guitar Company to CBS for $13 million