On this day (July 2) in 1988, Michael Jackson topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “Dirty Diana.” It was the fifth single and fifth consecutive No. 1 from Bad. This made Jackson the first artist to send five singles from the same LP to the top of the tally. He was the only artist to do so until 2011. After the success of his previous album, Thriller, he was also the first artist to release two albums that produced five top 10 singles.
Jackson started working toward making chart history in September 1987, when “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” the lead single from Bad, went to No. 1. Roughly a month later, the album’s title track took the top spot for two weeks. “The Way You Make Me Feel” was the third No. 1 from the album, topping the chart in January 1988. In March, “Man in the Mirror” spent two weeks at the top of the tally. Finally, “Dirty Diana” became his fifth chart-topper from the LP in July.
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Jackson’s hot streak ended after “Dirty Diana” spent a week at the top. Only one of the LP’s next four singles landed within the top 10. “Another Part of Me” stalled at No. 11. “Leave Me Alone” and “Liberian Girl” failed to chart. “Smooth Criminal” peaked at No. 7.
Michael Jackson Wrote “Dirty Diana” About Groupies
“I wrote a song called ‘Dirty Diana.’ It was not about Lady Diana. It was about a certain kind of girls that hang around concerts or clubs, you know, they call them groupies,” Michael Jackson said of the song’s inspiration. “I’ve lived with that all my life. These girls, they do everything with the band, everything you could imagine,” he added.
Jackson planned to remove the song from a concert in London out of respect for Princess Diana. Then, they met. She asked if he planned to do “Dirty Diana” during the show, and he said that he’d chosen not to perform the song out of respect for her. “No! I want you to do it! Do the song!” was her reply.
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