1988 Rock Classic, Once a Favorite of Princess Diana’s, Is Suddenly Charting Again 38 Years Later

With the recent theatrical release ofMichael, the King of Pop has been climbing the charts once more. Over the last few weeks, several ofMichael Jackson‘s song have creeped back onto the famed Billboard charts, including “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” and “Human Nature.”

On May 23, another one of the music legend’s hits re-entered the chart: “Dirty Diana.” Landing in the No. 44 spot in the Billboard Hot 100, it’s certainly not the first time that the 1987 hit has enjoyed commercial success.

Just a few months after its release, “Dirty Diana” reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, making Jackson the first artist in history to score five consecutive No. 1 singles from a single album — 1987’s Bad. In 1989, the music video, one of the singer’s most visually striking videos, won the award for the “Number One Video in the World” at the 2nd World Music Awards.

“Dirty Diana” is a risqué track that was often speculated to be written about Princess Diana, but those rumors were debunked by producer Quincy Jones, who confirmed that the track was a fictional tale about a group of women pursuing a rock star. However, the song was one of the Princess of Wales’ favorites.

In a 1997 interview with Barbara Walters, Jackson spoke about meeting the royals and his performance in front of Diana and her then-husband, King Charles III, during the Bad Tour at London’s Wembley Stadium.

“I took [‘Dirty Diana’] out of the show in honor of Her Royal Highness,” he said. Diana had asked the hitmaker if he would be playing the song during his set, but he had removed it from the lineup. Diana encouraged the song to be added back in.

“[She said] ‘No! I want you to do it. Do it. Do the song.’” Jackson explained.

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