Michael Jackson: Reigns over music charts

Michael Jackson: Reigns over music charts

Pop king Michael Jackson has stopped making records, but he did not stop breaking them.

Less than one week after his death, Jackson has stormed the music charts with an unprecedented display of sales clout. He is the first artist to hold 8 of the top 10 slots on any Billboard chart and the first to claim 6 positions, including the top four, in the top 10 digital albums chart.

According to a famous public opinion organization, Michale has racked up the nation's three best-selling albums. The 2003 compilation Number Ones leads with 108,000 copies, followed by 2005's The Essential Michael Jackson with 102,000 and 2008's Thriller reissue with 101,000.

The Black Eyed Peas' The E.N.D. has grabbed  fourth position with 88,000. However it will top the pop chart since Jackson's titles are too old to be eligible. Instead, he is going to dominate the catalog chart, where he becomes that roster's first leader to outsell the No. 1 pop chart entry.

The King of Pop also broke digital barriers. Since the public organization started tracking downloads in July 2004, till date no artist has sold one million tracks in a single week. Fans downloaded 2.3 million Jackson songs last week. It is nearly double the total tracks that he sold in the first twenty five weeks of 2009.

Nine tunes of Michael Jackson were downloaded over 100,000 times each. The leader, Thriller, was downloaded 167,000 times. Man in the Mirror, which sold 300,000 digital tracks during the previous five years, was downloaded 164,000 times. Fans also bought 292,000 Jackson 5 tracks, compared with 11,000 the week before.

According to Keith Caulfield, Billboard's senior chart analyst, "If anyone can move mountains and shift charts, even in death, it's Michael Jackson”. Sales went up "after the passing of big stars, from Frank Sinatra to Jerry Garcia to George Harrison. The impact was felt on the charts but not to this degree. The closest might be John Lennon or Elvis Presley. But the impact was spread out because you had to buy a physical album. With Michael, the impact was amplified because you could get whatever you wanted immediately online."

The sales of CDs might have been greater had stores carried sufficient inventory. Most of the retailers were low on Jackson titles, particularly vintage stock, and many sold out. It is no coincidence that Jackson's three best sellers last week were recent releases more likely to be on shelves.

Caulfield said, "Most stores blew through everything they had Thursday,"  "They replenished Saturday and ran out again. You're seeing the large digital sales because you don't have that stock problem at iTunes."