Posted on 06/30/2009 10:32:36 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Michael Jackson Breaks Billboard Charts Records
June 30, 2009 10:58 PM ET
Keith Caulfield, L.A.
As predicted, Michael Jackson is once again the King of the Pop charts.
Based on preliminary sales numbers from Nielsen SoundScan, the entire top nine positions on Billboard's Top Pop Catalog Albums chart will house Jackson-related titles when the tally is released in the early morning on Wednesday (July 1). Nielsen SoundScan's sales tracking week ended at the close of business on Sunday (June 28) night.
Michael Jackson 1958-2009
Jackson himself has a record eight out of the top 10, while a Jackson 5 compilation also finds its way into the upper tier.
The King of Pop's "Number Ones" will fittingly lead the pack at No. 1 with 108,000 (an increase of 2,340%) while "The Essential Michael Jackson" and "Thriller" are in the Nos. 2 and 3 slots with 102,000 and 101,000, respectively. Last week "Number Ones" was the only Jackson title on the chart, at No. 20 with 4,000 copies; both "Essential" and "Thriller" re-enter the tally this week.
Additionally, his classic 1979 studio set "Off the Wall" re-enters at No. 4 with 33,000 while his 1987 album "Bad" returns at No. 6 with 17,000. At No. 5, the Jackson 5's "The Ultimate Collection" debuts with 18,000. Jackson's fourth studio album for Epic Records, 1991's "Dangerous," re-enters at No. 7 with 14,000 while his 2001 compilation "Greatest Hits: HIStory -- Volume 1" also comes back to the list at No. 8 with 12,000. Finally, Jackson's 2004 box set "The Ultimate Collection" charts its first week on the Pop Catalog chart, arriving at No. 9 with 11,000.
The lone non-Jackson-related set in the top 10 is a reissue of the "Woodstock" movie soundtrack, which bows at No. 10 with 8,000.
Collectively, Jackson's solo albums sold 415,000 this past week. That's extraordinary, since his titles sold a combined 10,000 in the week that ended June 21. Of the 415,000 total, 58% were digital downloads.
Additionally, the 415,000 albums sold just last week is nearly 40% more than what Jackson's catalog had sold the the entire year up through June 21 (297,000).
Speaking of digital albums, on the Top Digital Albums chart, Jackson has a record six out of the top 10 slots, including the entire top four. "The Essential Michael Jackson" leads the Top Digital Albums list with 80,000 downloads sold, while "Thriller" is No. 2 with 57,000.
With the Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D." moving back to the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200 chart with 88,000, this week marks the first time that a catalog album has sold more than the No. 1 current set on the Billboard 200 albums chart. (All three of Jackson's top sellers on the Pop Catalog chart outsell "The E.N.D.")
Ironically, the feat almost occurred when Jackson re-issued "Thriller" in February 2008. The set relaunched with 166,000, re-entering at No. 1 on the Top Pop Catalog chart. That week, Jack Johnson's "Sleep Through the Static" led the Billboard 200 chart with 180,000 while Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" was at No. 2 with 115,000.
Catalog albums are ineligible to appear on the Billboard 200 albums chart, though they can chart on the all-encompassing Top Comprehensive Albums list. On the latter chart, Jackson's "Number Ones," "Essential" and "Thriller" are at Nos. 1-3, followed by the Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D." at No. 4.
Jackson places a record 25 songs on the 75-position Hot Digital Songs chart (21 solo hits and four with his siblings), smashing the mark of 14 charting titles established by David Cook in the June 7, 2008 issue. Jackson's Halloween radio staple, "Thriller," moves 167,000, which is good for second place on the chart behind the 203,000 shifted by the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling."
"Thriller" was also Jackson's best seller in the week before his death with 5,000 downloads, which translates to a 3,551% jump. Jackson's total volume of downloads this week -- including his tracks with the Jackson 5 and the Jacksons -- account for 2.6 million downloads, a remarkable number considering last week's cumulative sum was 48,000. Moreover, Jackson becomes the first act to sell more than 1 million song downloads in a week.
Besides "Thriller," Jackson places five other songs in the top 10 including "Man In The Mirror" (No. 3, 165,000), "Billie Jean" (No. 4, 158,000), "The Way You Make Me Feel" (No. 6, 136,000), "Beat It" (No. 7, 134,000) and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (No. 8, 125,000).
Not surprisingly, each of the tracks in the top 10 of Hot Digital Songs were among the top 10 most-played Jackson selections at radio following his passing. According to research provided by Nielsen BDS of monitored airplay from over 1,600 terrestrial and satellite radio stations and cable music channels, "Billie Jean" was the Jackson track with the most spins for the week ending June 28 with 4,540 -- 97% of which occurred after news of his death became public. The track posted only 318 plays in the prior week.
Who gets the money?
The people that killed him.
Isn’t that...kind of weird?
I mean, if you like the guy’s music, then you should own his music. *Already*.
But if you like the guy’s music because he’s dead....
I suppose a newish generation of youngsters not generally familiar with his book of tunes have been inundated by the wall-to-wall media coverage and cannot help but act as the consumers they’ve been trained to be.
I would rather have kids downloading Jackson on the Internet, then having to download Jackson at the Neverland Ranch.
I contributed in my own little way by buying 4 Thriller songs from iTunes.
The people who extended $400 million in credit to Jackson.
I would rather have kids downloading Jackson on the Internet, than having to download Jackson at the Neverland Ranch.
You are proud of that joke I see ;)
Joe Jackson and the rest of the Jackson “entourage” would like to thank you!
No, simply ashamed of my use of then instead of than.
Yes, the ones who OD’d MJ on oxycodine, or whatever the name of the prescription drug was.
Coincidentally, this same type of drug killed Heath Ledger in his NY apartment early last year.
On the peer to peer or “file sharing” networks yesterday, the top 10 music downloads were ALL MJ.
That figures.
Who are the idiots out there buying this music?
I’ve never known anyone to go and buy music because a musician died. Haven’t these people heard of BitTorrent? lol
But the amount of attention to this is beyond absurd. I'm not surprised by the Entertainment Press. This is more or less their job. But the behavior of the MSM is outrageous. The amount of time on this is preposterous. Fox News in particular is disgusting. I thought better of them. I guess anything for ratings.
The truth of the matter is that Michael Jackson's life is a tragedy brought on by having fame greatly in excess of his talent. Yes I said it. Jackson was a really good dancer and performer but for real rock and roll fans he was lame. His fan base are the types who really don't like true rock and roll, rhythm and blues and the like. He was POP and that's it. He wasn't even Soul. I don't think he wrote any of his own material (I might be wrong on that). He didn't play an instrument that I'm aware of and he didn't have a great singing voice. Ask yourself a question, does anyone cover Michael Jackson tunes” ? I didn't think so.
Yes he had his adoring fan base (mostly people with no taste). Yes Thriller was a good album. Although the test of time will diminish it. I really don't understand his popularity. He was a precursor of the trash Madonna. Without Jackson, she would not have been possible. It's hype over substance.
I won't go into his personnel life. It's been covered enough. Suffice it to say it was beyond bizarre.
I'm saddened by his death. It was a tragedy. But as for my opinion his fame and talent were GREATLY EXAGGERATED” .
I’ve been buying a ton of vinyl at garage sales the last couple of years. I usually buy in bulk and throw away the Lawrence welk, etc.
Anyway, I ended up with a lot of “Thriller” and others on vinyl. Interestingly, whenever a 30-something steps into my studio and sees on of my copies of Thriller, they just gotta hear it. It is kinda comical.
I would not want to be in MJ's position for all of eternity for all of the wealth this old ball has to offer.
He’s dead Jim.
If these buyers really were fans, they would have already owned the music.
I hope all his creditors get their money back. $400 million in debt. That is simply incredible. If you combined the lifesavings of everyone here who has posted on this thread it wouldn’t begin to reach 400 million. 2.6 million bucks is nothing to pay off what needs to be paid off.
” Isn’t that...kind of weird?
I mean, if you like the guy’s music, then you should own his music. *Already*. “
Exactly what I was thinking . Is it THAT easy to brainwash people nowadays in America ? I’m in Japan so unsure .
If there is any money to inherit, I don’t think Joe will be seeing any of it. The only will found so far leaves money to his mother Katherine Jackson, his children, his siblings and charity. Joe was not mentioned as a beneficiary.
Now I've been hearing a lot of fuss over this new "singing sensation" named Amy Winehouse. Supposedly she has a great voice but has a very bizarre lifestyle of drug abuse. I don't know much about her music but when she does finally succumb to the "rock and roll" lifestyle, I guess I'll go ahead and check some of that music out.
Alien Ant Farm had a small hit with their cover of "Smooth Criminal".
Getting dead was a good career move, if a bit extreme. It worked for Elvis.
Death is always a good career move, they say.
I knew a record store owner in MA (used vinyl, CDs, cass.)
who would always prominently feature someone who had just passed on, like Roy Orbison. He knew there would be instant nostalgia for the performer.
In many cases it goes no further than the radio playing a few tunes by the recently deceased artist—heck, I do a long running blues show in MA and, for example, when Koko Taylor passed on, I played some of her songs in remembrance (as many as the company that webstreams our signal would allow, which was about 4). Jacko though was huge like Elvis or Lennon. Lots of radio play and things like radio documentaries on him (heard one on XM 70s on 7 just last weekend, right after the Amer. Top 40 rebroadcast)
Jackson will dominate the music charts this week.
I also remember my college radio station had a 45 by an artist from Wash DC named Martha Hull; a kind of ironic tune about musical artists becoming legends by dying.
“Jim Croce’s records never sold/ But when he died they all turned gold!” (Actually Croce did have some decent hits before the plane crash but Time In A Bottle went to #1
shortly after his death)
Yes they do. They lost me when they started talking about various races that have been known to say the government was targeting them specifically.
Sorry, wrong thread.
Yes they do.
I don’t know if I’d use the word “easy”.
The MJ coverage has been literally non-stop here, every channel, all the time. Bombastic. Plus...the side issues that have been spawned...the drug use...the 911 call...the alleged crooked doc who may have injected him w/drugs....the status of his estate....the Beatles catalog....Neverland....the crazy Brits...the parents...the funeral...blah blah blah. Wall to wall. Bumper music on nearly every radio show. This from memory by someone who doesn’t watch TV, though it’s on in the background.
When the world watches what will unfold on Friday at Neverland Ranch...it will be 1977 all over again X millions. I am afraid the people of Santa Barbara have no idea what they are in for. Basically a new open tourist attraction/theme park has opened in their town overnight.
I heard figures anywhere from 250,000 to 1 million will try to get in there...that should be fun to watch a police force of what? 500? Handle that mess. This is going to cost the State of California tens of millions bringing in police from around the state for this circus.
When it opens as a memorial museum and is dedicated the folks from Graceland said the property can expect some 3 million visitors a year during the first 5 years of operation alone.
Some people sure like their paedophile musicians. ;)
Imagine how few would show up if Michael Jackson had been a right winger.
Yeah I’m sure that’s the primary reason people buying the music. Jackson’s (generally unknown) politics. /sarc
The wrong person died in my opinion.
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