Mrs. Knowles-Carter can never reach the heights of Mr. Jackson for one simple reason…

31 Jan 1993: Singer Michael Jackson performs during halftime at Super Bowl XXVII between the Dallas Cowboys and the Buffalo Bills at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The Cowboys won the game, 52-17. Mandatory Credit: Mike Powell /Allsport

There is a debate raging online that it is breathtaking in its ridiculousness. There are people who have decided to shamelessly declare that they Beyoncé is the next Michael Jackson.

This claim is so wrong that I feel sorry for whoever raised the people who think it’s true. And whoever would make such a claim must be under the age of 20. M.J. died in 2009 at the age of 50, and it was shocking, pull your car on the side of the road and mourn, news.

His death was so monumental that Twitter and Google strained to deal with the traffic that news caused. When he died, he almost took the internet with him. So, anyone who was alive during that time would know that any comment comparing Bey to M.J. is just not true.

But let’s dig deeper into this. Anyone who would think this way must not understand how big the man from Gary, Indiana was. And they certainly do not understand that Mrs. Knowles-Carter can never reach the heights of Mr. Jackson for many reasons we won’t go into but one particular reason: MTV.

When M.J. came into prominence, the world was a fundamentally different place. In 2025, new music and trends can come from anywhere thanks to the democratizing force of the internet and social media.

In the 80s, the way you heard new music was not your local radio station or even at the club (though those places did play a part). The #1 way you heard new music and discovered new trends was a little television station called MTV.

In the 80s, Music Television was not in the reality TV game like it was in the 90s with Real World and Road Rules. In that decade, they played music videos nonstop.

That was also the decade Michael Jackson stepped, no leaped, into pop music greatness. Off the Wall is a great album, but it did not do what his next album did.

Thriller was not just beloved by Black folk. That album turned the lead singer of the Jackson Five into the biggest pop star the world had ever seen.

It was universally beloved by critics. But it also went multiple times platinum in over 10 countries. It went 34 times platinum in the United States. The cultural impact that album had on the world cannot be overstated.

So, as M.J. was ascending into rarified air in pop music, he also became the biggest star on MTV. That thrust him to a level superstardom that only Elvis could rival.

There is just no equivalent for Beyonce. Sure, she is the biggest Black pop star we have today. But to understand MJ’s cultural footprint at his height, you have to take Beyonce’s popularity and multiply that by, conservatively, a million.

Before his fame took a hit in the 90s, everyone loved MJ eversince he was a little kid. That included presidents, foreign leaders, conservatives and progressives. Everyone. Hell, even men who have a fondness for blue respected the man.  And I’m not talking about cops.

Beyonce has a rabid fanbase. (Although there is a contentious debate happening about whether she can sing.) But comparing her to M.J. is laughable.

Don’t go on the internet and make that kind of silly claim. The ancestors are rolling in their graves every time you do.