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‘Billie Jean’ hits one billion views

“Billie Jean” may have been about “just a girl” who was not Michael Jackson’s lover, but the music video for the song has reached a historic milestone.

Debuting on MTV in March 1983, the Steve Barron-directed clip — where Jackson lands on his toes and illuminates tiles on the ground — has crossed one billion views on YouTube, making it only the third music video of the ’80s to rack up that many viewers, and the first ’80s clip by solo artist to hit that benchmark.

Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’Mine,” from 1988, and a-ha’s 1984 groundbreaking video for “Take On Me,” previously entered the Billion Views club.

According to YouTube, the “Billie Jean” video has been averaging 600,000 daily views globally this year.

“Billie Jean” — which was inducted into the Music Video Producers Hall of Fame in 1992 — is considered one of the greatest videos of all time.

ENTERTAINMENT

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2021-06-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

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