bobmoo79

So how many copies do the MB and MJ albums normally sell in a year then? Jackson's Number Ones is probably a consistent seller across much of the year but would be much higher if Sony hadn't released so many MJ hits albums in the years before and after his death (diluting sales of Number Ones). Without the other hits albums I estimate it would have sold nearly 1 million more copies than it did during 2009. Buble's Christmas album will be a good seller in the run up to Xmas but probably non-existent the rest of the year.

Lovin the MJ/J5 sample (tho I admit it IS a bit repetitive even with the short run time - they should have added some other vocals) The song's starting to get some momentum now and if the radio spins pick up rapidly they'll have to release this early IMO. Leaving it until September will be a big mistake.

Perhaps monitoring IP addresses will reduce the impact of people fixing the charts, but it can't prevent it. Just like it's not difficult to circumvent region-restricted internet content or streaming content, it won't be difficult for people to circumvent the IP checks. It's not difficult to use multiple random IPs. It would be easy to change IP after every 10 streams ad infinitum. It's just one weakness of using streaming in the official charts. Sure, people could (and actually do) go out and buy multiple copies of singles in an attempt to boost chart positions, but that at least was costing them money, limiting the amount each person would be prepared to buy. Now it will be easy to set up thousands of streams per person, per week, at no cost at all. Whether people actually bother is another question. I know I can't be arsed. I haven't heard of this being a problem in other countries where streaming has already been a big part of charting, so perhaps they have more soffisticated means of preventing a few streamers impacting the charts than only checking IPs

I've always believed streaming should be counted and charted, but that it should be separate to the official sales chart. Reason is, how can you accurately decide how many streams should equal one sale? The decision appears to based on royalties paid for a stream, but this has nothing to do with the reasons for people streaming a song. The listener does not care about royalty rate. It does not factor into their decision making process, so setting the ratio based on that seems pointless. If all you care about is how much money somebody earned off the back of a track being streamed then you might as well compile a net earnings chart and use that as your guage for popularity, except of course that wouldn't work very well either. The decision to use 100:1 has massive implications for a artists perceived success, although I appreciate they say that generally the impact on the sales chart positions will be minimal. In the past a sale was a sale. Somebody bought a copy and that was counted. Simple. Now I know they may have never given it a second listen, but they parted with their hard earned money based on a perception that the music was good. They chose to pay for that music specifically. Now people stream music all day long because they have access to it as part of a paid subscription or maybe even a promotional deal. They're not paying with their wallets in the same way. Often people don't even choose many of the songs they end up listening to yet these songs, played without deliberate intent will be counted as equal to those others that are deliberately chosen by the listener. Seems strange to me. Perhaps this is considered to be statistical noise by the chart compilers. It sounds as though automatic track selection will become (if it is not already) an important aspect of chart performance that music companies will try to influence. How realistic is it that Sony could buy priority for their tracks so that when a person's chosen track is finished the next one cued up by the system automatically is one of theirs, hence boosting chart position? Sounds reasonable to me, and I'd be surprised if it's not done already. Also, it's an incredibly easy task to set up any number of virtual machines each constantly streaming tracks of your own choice. This makes influencing the new singles chart much easier than it is now, as it can be done for free!

Such a shame that Cascada managed to keep MJ's Man In The Mirror from the number 1 spot for two consecutive weeks in 2009. Travesty.

MJ is creeping up the itunes chart hour by hour. Not the most inspiring first single (and I'm sure not one he would choose himself), but I wonder if Top10 on Sunday is a reasonable guess. The music video has been delayed until the end of the week, which won't help matters

I wonder what that promo idea will be... MJ always liked to do things big. Remember when Sony floated a statue of MJ down the Thames and put up multiple statues around the world in the 90s? I believe a few of them are still standing all these years later (the one in Amsterdam is definitely still there)

The Nordics are loving some MJ and Akon on itunes.

Huh? Don't singles downloads contribute to the official French singles chart???

I'm surprised how many copies RATM has sold already to be honest, these campaigns usually don't amount to much. BUT the news was reporting the other day that 500 thousand people had joined the facebook group and only 83k have actually bought a copy so far, which is a disappointment. Hopefully the others will get their act together and buy the song by the end of the week - they'll need at least 500k copies sold to even stand a chance of RATM being Xmas No.1. *goes off to buy RATM*

Sony must be run by muppets. Do they seriously think people need another hits album? Why not just add the single to 'The essential' or 'Number Ones'? Also, they have less than 3 weeks to promote the new single, so how do they expect it to reach its potential?

Hmm, I think that's what Tom meant and I'd have to agree with him.

A moderator on a music forum who doesn't know most of Jacko's material? :huh: surely that's a minimum qualification?! I prescribe a course of MJ listening sessions. A Jackson 5 track every morning. A Jacksons track an hour after lunch, and a Mike Jack solo track an hour before bed. If the problem persists after 3 months come back and see me.

This is a forum talking about music charts and sales. Michael Jackson was one of the biggest music stars in terms of sales and chart success around the world. FACT. Nothing else matters in the context of this forum IMO. No amount of contraversy will erase Michael Jackson's achievements.

1) Man In The Mirror 2) 2000 Watts 3) Butterflies 4) Smooth Criminal 5) Tabloid Junkie 6) Beat It 7) Scream 8) Dirty Diana 9) They Don't Care About Us 10) BAD

If you think this outpouring of grief/support/affection/celebration for Michael Jackson is over the top then you're sadly uneducated in the just how much this man achieved through his career. Granted, the last few years weren't all that, but from the 60s to the 90s he was THE MAN. Don't forget, he transcended the colour barrier, achieveing the largest non-white success across the world. He crossed international borders far more than the Beatles or Elvis did while they were alive. His career sales are astronomical (up to 750 million) and his charitable work unforgettable - he donated a check for $100million to a charity in the late 80s. that's $100million of his own money. People bleet on about Bono and how charitable he is, but he was nothing in comparison to Mike. I'm sorry, but I'm delighted at the amount of support I have seen across the world after his death and believe he deserves it 100%. RIP Michael Jackson. P.S I agree about Cascada. Man In the Mirror has been my favourite MJ track for years, so I'm glad people have taken to it in the way they have,.

There are so many different versions of his songs on itunes thanks to Sony's relentless re-releasing of his music! It would be great if he managed to achieve a No1 single or album after his death. That would be a fitting tribute to the man and his music. RIP Michael Jackson.

I was having this discussion about music videos the other day and came to the conclusion that the MV no longer provides the benefits that it used to and so budgets are getting smaller and smaller. It’s a shame because I remember the heyday of the music video. Michael Jackson single headedly reinvented the music video format with epic videos for songs like Thriller, Beat it and BAD in the 80s. One of my favourite videos of all time is his ‘Smooth Criminal’ video (there are 2 versions – I don’t like the sped up one). When his video for Black or White came out in the 90s it was broadcast around the world at the same time and was a major event. Even his later videos like ‘Scream’ (with Janet) and Earth Song were impressive. Other artists were putting out incredible videos by then, but Jacko paved the way for them to do so. I have stopped watching music channels almost completely because they just don’t play enough music. I use the radio TV channels instead. I got fed up with constant pointless chart run downs and brainless programmes. I know other people think the same. I just rembered another MV by jacko that impressed me called ‘Ghosts’. I don’t think it’s well known, but the story was written by Stephen King and special effects were by Stan Winston (Jurassic Park, Terminator 2 and 3). Incredible effects that still look great now. Check it out if you haven’t already. The full version is very long (40minutes I think) but there is a shorter version. You can download the Ghosts film for free from this Stephen King website: http://www.stephenkingshortmovies.com/goto...vies/ghosts.php

Rhianna 'Don't stop the music' - Michael Jackson's Wanna Be Starting Something Akon 'Wanna be startin somethin 08 - Michael Jackson's Wanna Be Starting Something Fall Out Boy 'Beat It' - Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' Mary J Blige 'Just Fine' - Michael Jackson's 'Don't Stop Til You Get Enough' Anything by Justin Timberlake - Anything by Michael Jackson or Prince Anything By Ne-Yo - Anything by Michael Jackson or Prince

I'm not a Fall Out Boy fan, but I think the original Beat It is a classic. The video is full of MJ references, similar to the Alien Ant Farm version of Smooth Criminal was, so the video is ok by me. Good to see the boys recognising a legend. By the way, is it me or is Mike everywhere lately? the other night I heard MJ and Akon (Wanna Be Startin Somethin 08) on KISS. 2 Songs later they played Rhianna (Don't Stop The Music). I switched channels and then heard FOB (Beat It) followed by Estelle anbd Kanye (Mike Jack reference in the song and video) and went into the supermarket and heard MJ (Don't Stop Till You Get Enough). PS When is box breakers shown?