India, May 22 -- At a time when streaming numbers have replaced album sales in determining music's popularity worldwide, the Billboard Global 200 chart has emerged as one of the most accurate metrics for measuring the most popular music. The chart collates the top songs globally in any given week, so it is no surprise that the top music stars of the current day and age dominate it. But last week, something unusual happened. A song from 1983, performed by a singer who died 17 years ago, topped the chart, beating recent hits from BTS and Justin Bieber, no less.

In May 2026, Michael Jackson's iconic 1983 hit, Billie Jean, from his milestone album, Thriller, reached the number one spot on Billboard Global 200. The song has been on the chart ...