Didn’t think of Jolson, and I can’t believe I didn’t think of Lindberg.
Would Rudy Vallee qualify? Did Jenny Lind get the Beatles treatment?
[QUOTE=EdwardLost]
Did Jenny Lind get the Beatles treatment?
[/QUOTE]
Absolutely. She was a major superstar in Europe before Barnum brought her to America, where they were mobs at the docks to greet her and ticket scalping reached unprecedented levels for performances.
Her fellow Barnum client, Tom Thumb, was a sold-out superstar in the United States and England on par with the Beatles. His wedding was for profit and SRO.
Sarah Bernhardt was probably the biggest sensation in America before the Beatles. She earned the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars in today’s money just for her American tours, and this while performing in French.
Oscar Wilde was a huge sensation in 1882, but more a flash in the pan type.
Paganini?
Mesmer?
I wonder if besides Charles Dickens, if two 19th novels should be mentioned. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and Lew Wallace’s “Ben Hur.” Both were enormously popular although I don’t think either author picked up a cult of personality.
nm
Lord Byron.
He was the Rolling Stone of his day. 
Let’s see:
[ol]
[li]The Jackson 5[/li][li]Bing Crosby[/li][li]Jay-Z[/li][li]Nat “King” Cole [/li][li]Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons[/li][li]Frank SInatra[/li][/ol]
Tom Jones?
Michael Jordan
Michael Jackson
Justin Bieber
One Direction are the Beatles of right now. Even my mom can’t get enough of them.
5,000 men, plus an unknown number of women and children
Milton Berle was the first television star and used to get 80% of the viewing audience in his first few years. Movie theaters and restaurants used to see a noticeable drop in patronage on nights Berle’s show was aired.
James Bond was a huge sensation when Goldfinger came out, prompting drive-ins to show a double-feature of the earlier two Bond films, Dr. No and From Russia with Love. That summer, I can remember seeing lines that stretched over a mile waiting to get into the local Drive-In.
And I remember the summer of 1972, when, for a brief time, the country went nuts over chess, as Bobby Fischer played Spassky for the World Championship. PBS broadcast just the moves with studio analysts and set records for day time viewing. Fischer-Spassky also was followed by near-equal intensity in both Europe and the Soviet Union.
Mozart, Beethoven et al. They were the rock stars of their day.
Bing Crosby. More song hits on charts than anybody else, according to Josh Whitburn’s Billboard books. #1 Box Office Draw for over a decade, and Oscar winner. #1 rated radio show for over two decades. Girls swooned over his early crooning style. But he, himself, said he was never as popular as Sinatra, and Sinatra wasn’t as popular as Elvis, and Elvis wasn’t as popular as the Beatles. I don’t know of anyone who’s an actual match for the Beatles in popularity, though my guess would be Michael Jackson would be close.
Another vote for 1900 actress Sarah Bernhardt.
To be fair, no one went more nuts than Fischer himself.
How about Scott Joplin? Benny Goodman and co.? Tito Puente and co.?
Hmm, maybe the Andrews Sisters in terms of mass appeal of their image as well as their music.