Janet Jackson's place in pop music history?

^^ You should do Tony. Enjoy is a great song, as good as anything she did in the 90s.

Good call mjjfan810

If she's not important there wouldn't be so many people trying to discredit her. Janet's place in music history is cemented long ago. People can call her whatever they want, that won't change the fact that Ms. Jackson is one of the 10 best selling female artists of all time.

With an estimated 70 million albums sold, Janet was selling around 5 million copies per album on average and more than 10 million during a period of 20 years (1986 to 2004). If we add to it an estimated 55-60 million singles sold, I can see why she became the highest-paid recording artist in history - twice during her career.

Even if we ignore her impressive commercial success, it's hard to ignore her artistic achievements and influence. She has four albums included on all relevant all-time lists of the best albums ever made. If there wasn't "Control" we wouldn't have new jack swing, and therefore we wouldn't have "Bad." If there wasn't "Rhythm Nation 1814," it would be impossible to have "Dangerous." And "The Velvet Rope" invented alt-R&b, a dominant genre today followed by artists like Beyonce, Frank Ocean, SZA, Solange and so on.

Here are some interesting facts:
-Janet is one of only four female artists who had sold-out stadiums in Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and North America.
-With sold-out stadiums across four continents, an attendance of 2 million and gross of over $140 million, Janet Jackson's Velvet Rope tour was the most successful tour by a female artist in the 90s and the most successful tour by a female artist ever at the time.
-Janet was the most successful touring act of the 90s, with gross of $300 million and attendance of nearly 7 million.
-Janet had more Top 20 hits in the UK than ABBA, George Michael, Robbie Williams, Britney Spears, Beyonce, Prince, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and many other notable artists.
-Janet had more songs on the UK singles chart than any American female artist, except Madonna.
-"That's the Way Love Goes" is the longest running number-one single of any member of the Jackson family on the Hot 100, "All for You" shares the second place with "Billie Jean."
-Janet Jackson was the first of only 8 women nominated for the Grammy for producer of the year, non-classical.
-She is the only artist having Grammy nominations spanning the dance, pop, rap, rock, and R&B categories.
-Janet is one of just three artists who has managed to score a No. 1 album in each of the past four decades.
-Janet is the first and only artist in Billboard history to score a #1 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, R&B chart, Dance chart, Adult Contemporary chart, and Rock chart.
-She's one of just nine acts with at least 10 Hot 100 No. 1s.
-With two No. 1s in the '80s, six in the '90s and two in the '00s, Jackson is one of just two solo artists with multiple Hot 100 No. 1s in three decades. The other: Her brother Michael.
-Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 is one of only 9 albums with 4 or more No. 1s.
-It is also the only album to produce number one hits on the chart in three separate years.
-She's the first and only artist in history to produce seven top five hits from one album, with Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814.
-Janet has the most albums with five or more Top 10 hits.
-She holds the record for the most consecutive top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 by a female artist with 18, surpassed only by Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
-Janet Jackson is the only artist in Hot 100 history with three singles released fifth from albums all having reached the top five. And, all three peaked at No. 2.
-Runaway made Jackson the first female artist in Billboard's history to debut in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100.
-Scream was the first song in the 37-year history of Billboard to debut in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100.

Here's the list of other famous artists performing Janet's songs, live or on their albums. I probably missed some of them.
Whitney Houston - Control
Prince - What Have You Done For Me Lately
Britney Spears - Nasty, Black Cat
Christina Aguilera - Black Cat
Bruno Mars - That's the Way Love Goes
Justin Timberlake - Let's Wait a While
Sam Smith - The Best Things In Life Are Free
Katy Perry - Nasty, What Have You Done For Me Lately
Solange - He Doesn’t Know I'm Alive
Justin Timberlake - Let's Wait a While
Alanis Morissette - Black Cat
Destiny's Child - Let's Wait a While
NSYNC - That's the Way Love Goes
Macy Grey - Love Will Never Do (Without You)
Adam Lambert - Black Cat
P!nk - Miss You Much, If, Rhythm Nation
Usher - Alright, If, Rhythm Nation
Tamar Braxton - Rhythm Nation
Selena - When I Think of You
Robyn - When I think of You
Kelly Clarkson - If
Shanice - I Get Lonely
MNEK - That's the Way Love Goes
Alexandra Burke - Let's Wait A While
Hitomi Shimatani - Doesn't Really Matter
Nanne Grönvall - Black Cat
Meshell Ndegeocello - Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun)
Stanley Clark - Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun)
George Duke - Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt - Rhythm Nation
Deborah Cox - That's the Way Love Goes
Heavy D - That's the Way Love Goes
Girls' Generation (SNSD) - Rhythm Nation
Tanishe - Pleasure Principle, Rhythm Nation
Jason Derulo - All For You, Rhythm Nation
Ciara - If, Rhythm Nation
Glee - Control, Nasty, Rhythm Nation, Lets A While, Scream
Crystal Kay - Rhythm Nation
Blood Orange - He Doesn’t Know I'm Alive
Warmen - Black Cat
Helena Zetová - Black Cat
Shirley Kwan - Black Cat
Kaytranada - If
Avicii - Go Deep
The Ting Tings - That's the Way Love Goes
Mya - Pleasure Principle, If, Rhythm Nation
Dannii Minogue - Nasty, What Have You Done for Me Lately
Chrisette Michelle - I Get Lonely
Marion Meadows - Come Back To Me

Her only problem is her brother was the biggest star in the world. And her biggest success was becoming a star on her own, because that's almost impossible even when your cousin is a much smaller star than Michael Jackson was. That only makes everything she achieved furthermore impressive.

I'm not trying nor expecting to convince anyone of anything, because our opinions won't change the facts nor general consensus on Janet's undeniable legacy and success. So, I'll repeat, her place in music history is cemented and no one can change that. 

Fantastic post.

Unfortunately, a lot of MJ fans won't credit other artists for anything, out of some misguided loyalty to their hero, so your comments may fall on deaf ears around these parts.

jserbia Janet achieved A LOT and she is an icon. Nobody can take that away from her.
Still her legacy doesn't hold up that well when you compare her with other pop legends. It's that simple.
Btw I'm a fan of her and I sometimes wish she would get a bit more attention by younger generations outside the states. Here in Germany people my age associate her with MJ.They can name Madonna songs but have no idea Janet had a career of her own.

I think majority of artists, even very successful ones have a limited shelf life of ten years if they’re lucky.

Janet had hers (86-96), maybe a bit after in US with AFY.

Think Gaga even, she looked like being as big as Madonna during BTW but seems to have fizzled out or peaked at least.

That’s why (not to go into it again) people hype Beyonce up, she’s been very successful for twenty years now.

Careers like MJ or Madonna are very, very rare in terms of continued success combined with longevity.

Janet did very, very well. No doubt about it. But peaked mid 90s. I sort of agree with dancingmjsdream though, not many people in UK could name more than two or three kits, and they’re probably from Control or RN1814.

Still got major love for her though. The Janet album is aesthetically and sonically a fantastic album.

MJ's has always been successful before his death and even after years of character assassination. He didn't have to die for his  back catalog to sell. In 2008 Thriller 25 was one of the top sellers of the year, and This Is It sold out very quickly in 2009. That despite of everything he went through.

Janet, on the other hand, struggled to sell out shows even then. She had to cancel a tour and she and her brothers were bugging MJ to tour with them because that was their only way to participate in a successful tour. She would have been content with being an opening act. That's a big fall for someone who was once considered up there with her brother or at the very least another megastar. Although I always thought it was a mirage when the American media pretended during Janet era that she surpassed MJ. She never actually did and her success was never as global as MJs. There might gave been a moment in the USA when she had it easier to have chart success there than MJ, due to the allegations against MJ, but that was very fickle and more due to MJs image problems at the time.