The commercial success of "Rhythm Nation 1814" was an unexpected achievement for mainstream pop music. Although Jackson was told focusing her album's theme on social consciousness would negatively impact sales, it was "a prediction soon proved wrong when the album was certified multi-platinum" and subsequently topped the pop, R&B and dance music charts. In "She Bop II: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop and Soul" (2003), Lucy O'Brien wrote that contrary to A&M's fear that the album would underperform, its multi-platinum sales pushed Jackson to a level of superstardom rivaling her brother Michael, calling it a "personal manifesto" and regarding it as a female counterpart to Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" (1971). Timothy E. Scheurer, author of "Born in the USA: The Myth of America in Popular Music from Colonial Times to the Present" (2007), wrote that the album "may remind some of Sly Stone prior to There's a Riot Going On and other African-American artists of the 1970s in its tacit assumption that the world imagined by Dr. King is still possible, that the American Dream is a dream for all people." It made history as the one of the only albums to generate seven top-five hits on the "Billboard" Hot 100, tying with Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (1982) and Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." (1984), each having seven top ten hits. It is also the only album to achieve number one hits in three separate calendar years, with "Miss You Much" in 1989, "Escapade" and "Black Cat" in 1990, and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" in 1991. Additionally, it is one of only nine albums—alongside Michael Jackson's "Bad" (1987), "Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track" (1977), Whitney Houston's "Whitney" (1987), George Michael's "Faith" (1987), Paula Abdul's "Forever Your Girl" (1989), Mariah Carey's self-titled debut (1990), Usher's "Confessions" (2004) and