Michael Jackson is the best pop singer ever.

I can rip your entire basis of "proof" that MJ is the 'best' to shreds in just one paragraph (I'll get to that later), but first: 1. Pop Music: music of general appeal to teenagers; a bland watered-down version of rock'n'roll with more rhythm and harmony and an emphasis on romantic love (Source: Dictionary.com) 2. Pop Music: the term indicates specific stylistic traits such as a danceable beat, simple melodies, and repetitive structure so that people can catch on and join in easily (Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop music) 3. "In contrast to genres with clear origins and a traceable evolution, pop developed, and continues to expand, as a haphazard merging of styles. Pop is an amalgam of successive fashions, of elements of many differing styles that have been successful over the years and have ended up incorporated into the genre." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org...) Based on these definitions - including the 'official' definition, a large array of artists and groups all fall into the pop genre whether we recognize it as such or not. Thus an artist like Elvis IS considered a pop artist. Yes it is true that he paved the way for Rock-N-Roll as did Lennon and McCartney with the Beatles. But paving the way for a new genre doesn't negate a type of music from being part of another. My point is that even if Elvis' album was listed under the Rock-N-Roll heading at a CD store, according to the DEFINITION of pop music, Elvis was and is pop. Not to mention the fact that 'pop' is short for the term POPular, and obviously Elvis, The Beatles, etc. were all very popular artists! HERE'S THE PARAGRAPH THAT MAKES YOUR ENTIRE ARGUMENT INVALID: Your #1 'source' of proof that MJ is the best is based on the fact that the Thriller album is (allegedly) the best selling album of all time. However, MJ is not the best selling artist of all time. In fact, some lists don't even put him in the top 15! So even though a particular album may have been extremely succesful, your bold comment of MJ being the 'best pop singer' assumes that you are talking about his entire music career and not just the explosion of one particular album. AND, even if people don't agree that people like Elvis are in fact pop music, I'm sure no one would refute an artist like Madonna being considered pop... and she's sold more albums world-wide (Source: http://www.riaa.com...). Plus, there are sources that do in fact recognize Elvis as being a pop star, such as POPDIRT.COM (http://popdirt.com...). Anyway, you mentioned that I didn't provide any reasons why Michael Jackson ISN'T the best pop singer of all time. If an actual list is what you're looking for (even though you yourself did not provide one), here goes: 1. Michael Jackson is not the best-selling pop artist of all time, even if his album Thriller may (or may not) have been the most popular. 2. Michael Jackson does not have the most number one hits, even amongst pop stars. For instance, Mariah Carey has 17. Madonna also tops MJ in this area, amongst many others. 3. In terms of consecutive number one hits, even a much lesser known group like Westlife tops MJ. 4. You cannot prove that Elvis (I'm singling him out, but I could list a number of people) is not a pop star, whereas I CAN prove that he WAS a pop star based on the definition of pop music, and other verifiable sources. 5. Your basis of MJ being the best SINGER is the number of album sales for Thriller; however, you couldn't really make an argument verifying MJ's superirority in terms of vocal ability. 6. Elvis, Madonna, Elton John, The Beach Boys... I could go on and on. And though Michael Jackson DEFINITELY belongs amongst the top pop artists of all time, he may not be the BEST pop *singer* of all time. And! Even if he IS the best pop singer of all time, my opponent's arguments were clearly lacking and did not do a good job of proving that he was, therefore giving me the win of this debate. So remember to vote based on articulation and the presentation of facts vs. opinion. Thanks!