Robbed hit of the week 10/13/20 - Michael Jackson's "Blood On The Dance Floor"...

 

 

"Blood On The Dance Floor" - Michael Jackson

from the album Blood On The Dance Floor: HIStory In The Mix (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #42

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the late self-professed "King of Pop", Michael Jackson, who by 1995 had released HIStory, a double disc collection half of his hits from his incredibly successful work in the 1980 and 1990s, and half new material. The set spun off three top-40 pop hits in the U.S., with the controversial "They Don't Care About Us", the event-record duet with sister Janet on "Scream", and his #1 ballad "You Are Not Alone". Two years later, during which Jackson was on a massive worldwide tour, and also found himself wedded to nurse Debbie Rowe, who bore two of his children, the singer released a stop-gap album of remixes of some of the original songs on HIStory, as well as five new tracks. One of them titled the set, "Blood On The Dance Floor". Written and produced by Michael with Teddy Riley, it was originally intended for his 1991 album Dangerous, and follows in his pattern of songs about bad women with malicious intentions that has always pervaded through his solo career...

While "Blood On The Dance Floor" climbed to #19 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, the single stalled right under the pop top-40 in May of 1997. I believe at that time that mainstream radio (and for an extension audiences) in America were having a bit of Jackson fatigue, with his tabloid-riddled personal life overshadowing his music, and that would only get worse. The dance remixes of the track did help it rise to #10 on the Dance Club Play chart. But internationally, the single was a big success, topping the singles charts in the UK, Spain, New Zealand, and Denmark, and reaching the top ten in Sweden (#2), Norway (#2), Finland (#2), Italy (#4), Canada (#4), Germany (#5), Australia (#5), Ireland (#5), Switzerland (#5), Hungary (#5), the Netherlands (#7), Austria (#9), and France (#10). The Blood On The Dance Floor album, which went to #1 in the UK, Belgium, Denmark, France, New Zealand, and the Netherlands, peaked at #24 in the States, going on to sell over a million copies. 

A second single was released internationally, with "History" and "Ghosts" both getting radio play. The double-A side release reached the top ten in the UK, Italy, Belgium, Spain, and Hungary. 

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Here's the "Fire Island" club remix, which helped the track make the top ten on the Dance chart in Billboard...

 

Next up, Michael performing the song on his HIStory tour in Germany...

 

and lastly, a promo video which combines the original video footage with that from the Cirque Du Soleil's One show ...