Posted June 28, 201015 yr One year on – Jackson leaves huge sales legacy 10:39 | Monday June 28, 2010 Source: MW The full impact of Michael Jackson’s death on his music sales has been revealed by new figures showing that he outsold every other artist in the UK in the year since he passed away. The icon, who died a year ago last Friday on the eve of what would have been a record-breaking 50-date O2 residency, sold 2.77m albums and around 2m single-track downloads over the past year, helping him to reach UK sales levels he did not even manage at the height of Thriller’s popularity in the Eighties. This huge uplift in sales is emphasised by a comparison with the number of albums he sold in the UK in the 12 months leading up to his death. Over that period 450,000 Jacko albums – both as a solo artist and with the Jackson 5/Jacksons – were sold, one-sixth of what Jackson fans bought over the following 12 months, according to OCC figures and further Music Week research. Although Jackson’s sales were expected to rise even prior to his death thanks to his O2 dates, a situation reflected by the significant amount of stock retailers were carrying of his material when he passed away, the increase in demand that occurred was nothing short of phenomenal. And it is likely his catalogue will get another big pick-up this autumn when Sony puts out the first of what could be 10 new albums of Jackson repertoire over the next seven years. HMV web and digital music manager Jamii Layton describes the clamour for Jackson’s music after he died as amazing, adding, “We were surprised not only by the amount of people coming into buy but the diversity of the people. We set about looking at our Oxford Circus store at the mix of people and in some cases there were people coming in for the first time.” The bulk of the tribute purchases over the past year is made up of Jackson’s solo albums, which contribute 2.64m units to the tally. This is led by The Essential, which topped the chart for seven weeks last July and August following his death, and has sold around 637,000 copies during the past 12 months. The double set This Is It, the first new Jackson release put out by Sony last October following his death, takes second place with 517,000 sales; third-placed Bad sold nearly 300,000 further copies and Thriller in fourth place another 256,000, while Thriller 25 sold 73,000 units. In the previous 12 months Bad sold about 26,000 units while Thriller and Thriller 25 combined managed just under 80,000 copies. His singles sales in the past year put him in an elite group with contemporary superstars such as Black Eyed Peas, who have sold 2.49m downloads in the UK over the same period, and Lady GaGa, with 2.01m single-track sales over the 12 months. As with albums, the biggest demand for Jackson downloads came from his solo work, led by Man In The Mirror, although there were strong sales for some Jackson 5/Jacksons titles. One of his more modest UK hit singles originally, even though it was a US chart-topper, the 1988 single climbed as high as number two on the OCC singles chart in the days following his death, with 270,000 units sold over the past year. The top six Jackson one-track downloads in the 12 months since his death are all cuts either from his Thriller or Bad albums. Second- and third-placed Billie Jean and Thriller both sold around 117,000 units, while fellow Thriller extract Beat It shifted 93,000 units to rank fifth. Joining Man In The Mirror among his top sellers are other Bad cuts Smooth Criminal and Dirty Diana in fourth/sixth places. A year on from the release of This Is It, which was mostly made up of already-available catalogue, Sony is lined up to release another new Jackson album in November – although this will comprise unreleased recordings. The album will be the first project emerging from the major’s $250m (£168m) seven-year deal with the Jackson estate signed earlier this year.
June 28, 201015 yr The new album is still in the works? It'll be a blockbuster Dunno what they'll do about videos for the new material though... :unsure:
June 28, 201015 yr Dunno what they'll do about videos for the new material though... :unsure: That'd be easy. Pictures and videos like a tribute thing? Or just some random dancers or computer graphics. The possibilities are endless really... Edited June 28, 201015 yr by Gramii
June 28, 201015 yr It puzzled me why Bad did better than Thriller last year. Was it because of the airplay that Man in the Mirror got?
June 29, 201015 yr Not quite sure but it was sold as a budget album which didn't count towards the album chart. Thriller did better on charts.
June 29, 201015 yr Not quite sure but it was sold as a budget album which didn't count towards the album chart. Thriller did better on charts. But then it later was re-qualified and turned out it was still at #9 on the seventh chart week after his passing - it's fair to assume it's have been top 10 every other week before that if it had been allowed.
June 29, 201015 yr Yea I remember it suddenly reappeared. I'd love to know the weekly sales before...Might have been the best selling album in the UK.
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