In the early 1980s, he became a dominant figure in American popular music and culture. He was the first African American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following on MTV, with videos such as “Beat It”, “Billie Jean” and “Thriller”—widely credited with transforming the music video from a promotional tool into an art form—bringing fame to the relatively new channel. Videos such as “Black or White” and “Scream” made Jackson an enduring staple on MTV well into the 1990s. Beyond his success on television, Jackson popularized a number of physically complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, with his elaborate stage performances. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced many hip hop, pop music and contemporary R&B artists across several generations.

Jackson donated and raised millions of dollars for beneficial causes through his Heal the World Foundation, charity singles, and support of 39 charities. One of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records—including one for “Most Successful Entertainer of All Time”—thirteen Grammy Awards, thirteen number one singles in his solo career, and the sale of 750 million records worldwide. At the time of his death, Jackson was preparing for This Is It, a series of 50 concerts that would have been held at The O2 arena in London, beginning July 13, 2009.

The 25th anniversary of Thriller was marked by the release of Thriller 25, which added the previously unreleased song “For All Time” and re-mixes of several songs by younger artists influenced by Jackson. The Thriller 25 package also included a DVD. Two remixes were released as singles to moderate success: “The Girl Is Mine 2008″ and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ 2008″. Thriller 25 sold well as a re-issue, peaking at number one in eight countries and Europe. It reached number three in the UK and top 10 on over 30 national charts. It was ineligible for the Billboard 200 chart as a re-release, but entered atop the Pop Catalog chart, where it stayed for 11 weeks and had the best sales on that chart since December 1996. In 12 weeks Thriller 25 sold over three million copies worldwide. Thriller 25 was the best-selling catalog album of 2008. As of the date of Jackson’s death, the album had sold 774,000 copies in the US.

To celebrate Jackson’s 50th birthday, Sony BMG released a series of compilation albums called King of Pop in 21 different markets. (North America was not one of those markets.) These albums included tracks from Jackson’s group and solo career, all voted for by fans. Each nation’s edition of the album had a different tracklist, according to how that nation’s fans voted. King of Pop did reach the top 10 in most countries where it was issued, and also sold well as an import in other countries.

On June 25, 2009, Jackson collapsed at his rented mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles. He was noted to have been in cardiac arrest by the paramedics who attended him at his house. Jackson was pronounced dead at approximately 2:26 p.m. local time. Rumors and news of Jackson’s death broke web records, triggering a cyberspace traffic jam and creating severe traffic spikes to websites such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Twitter and Wikipedia. Vigils were held by members of the general public after the death.

As expected, the ticket lottery for the Michael Jackson Public Memorial Service has sparked a fan frenzy not unlike one of the pop icon’s concerts.

Over 1.6 million people registered for the chance to receive one of the 17,500 free tickets that have been allotted for Tuesday’s 10 a.m. service, according to Ken Sunshine, a family spokesman for the Jacksons. Los Angeles police and city officials have warned fans without tickets to stay home, since the screens outside the venues will not be used to broadcast the event. Organizers have also taken pains to stress the service is not a show but a public remembrance of the 50-year-old singer, who died suddenly on June 25 of a suspected cardiac arrest.

U.S. President Barack Obama called Michael Jackson a brilliant performer whose talents were paired with a tragic personal life. “I’m glad to see that he is being remembered primarily for the great joy that he brought to a lot of people through his extraordinary gifts as an entertainer,” Obama had said in an interview. “I think that Michael Jackson will go down in history as one of our greatest entertainers,” Obama was quoted to have said.

The U.S. President is so very right. No one can match the amount of fan frenzy someone can create even after his/her death. He was truly the “King of Pop” who broke more than a million hearts with his sudden death. He was truly “The Greatest of Them All”.