 " Billie Jean " has been recognized with numerous awards and honors . At the 1984 Grammy Awards the song earned Jackson two of a record eight awards ; Best R & B Song and Best R & B Male Vocal Performance . It won the Billboard Music Award for favorite dance / disco 12 " LP , and the magazine 's 1980 's poll named " Billie Jean " as the " Black Single of the Decade " . The American Music Awards recognized the track as the Favorite Pop / Rock Single , while Cash Box honored the song with the awards for Top Pop Single and Top Black Single . The track was recognised with the Top International Single award by the Canadian Black Music Awards , and awarded the Black Gold Award for Single of the Year . " Billie Jean " has also been awarded for its sales . It won the National Association of Recording Merchandisers Gift of Music award for best selling single in 1984 . By 1989 , the standard format single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America , for shipments of at least one million units . The digital sales of " Billie Jean " were certified gold in 2005 , for shipments of at least 500 @,@ 000 units . The digital sales of " Billie Jean " were certified 2x Platinum in US on May 9 , 2013 . The total number of digital downloads of the song in the US , as of October 2014 , stands at 2 @.@ 9 million . In May 2014 , a viral video of a high school @-@ aged teenager imitating Jackson 's Motown 25 performance of the song helped the song re @-@ enter the Billboard Hot 100 at number 14 , with much of its chart performance was 95 % credited to streams of the viral video . 
