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On the Charts: Michael Jackson Catalog Breaks Records

7/1/09, 11:53 am EST

The Big News: As expected, Michael Jackson dominated this week’s sales chart as the King of Pop’s Number Ones, Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller all sold more than 100,000 copies to cruise to the top of Billboard’s Pop Catalog Albums chart and the all-encompassing Top Comprehensive chart. Since Jackson’s albums were classified as “catalog” releases (albums older than 18 months) and thus ineligible for the Top 200, the Black Eyed Peas scored the official Number One album this week with 87,000 copies — but the real story is Jackson’s impact on the charts.

On the Pop Catalog chart, Jackson’s solo albums and Jackson 5 compilations locked up the top nine slots and 13 out of the Top 20. In the week prior to Jackson’s death, Thriller sold 277 copies; last week, the album sold 101,000 copies. As it was impossible for retailers to keep up with the demand for Jackson albums, buyers flocked to digital music services to load up on MJ, which catapulted Jackson to the top four spots of the Digital Album charts as well. “Man in the Mirror” was Jackson’s top-selling single last week, getting downloaded 146,000 times to come in third on the Top Digital Songs charts, ahead of “Billie Jean” and “Thriller.”

Debuts: The Jackson explosion on the charts almost made us miss the fact that Regina Spektor’s Far bowed at Number Three with 49,000, easily the best debut of the songstress’ career. Other debuts cracking the Top 10 were Dream Theater’s Black Clouds and Silver Linings at Six, the soundtrack to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen at Seven and Ginuwine’s Man’s Thoughts at Nine.

Last Week’s Heroes: Current Rolling Stone cover stars the Jonas Brothers saw their reign at the top come to a quick end as their Lines, Vines and Trying Times dropped to Two thanks a 72 percent sales drop from the previous week. The largest plummet was reserved for Incubus, who saw their Monuments and Melodies fall from Five to 24. Next week, we’ll find out if new releases from Wilco and Rob Thomas are able to outsell Jackson’s catalog.


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Comments

Greg | 7/1/2009, 4:32 pm EST

Michael Jackson’s, music is the only stuff worth listening to right now. And that is as it should be.

Jeff | 7/1/2009, 5:55 pm EST

Any word on how many copies Invincible sold?

LX | 7/1/2009, 6:04 pm EST

Amen, Greg!

whicks | 7/1/2009, 6:35 pm EST

Michael Jackson is the GREATEST OF ALL TIME…

NEVER FORGET IT!!!!

T | 7/1/2009, 8:19 pm EST

If 58% of the totals were legal downloads, imagine how many millions were illegal downloads. wow.

Jungleland2 | 7/2/2009, 9:57 am EST

Ok, Why are catalog sales removed from the top 200 charts? At this point you would think that catalog sales HELP the charts.

Will the Beatles Reissues be catalog or “new”

Truth is, Metallica (black album) Abbey Road, Best Of Jimmy Buffett, Dark Side Of The Moon, Led Zeppelin IV would be top 20 records many weeks of the year if the charts were OVERALL.

JD | 7/2/2009, 1:21 pm EST

I looked at the Billboard singles charts and I hardly saw anything that looked grammy worthy. Yes, a lot of the artists on the charts are influenced by MJ, but none of them can light a candle to the King of Pop.

Fletcher | 7/2/2009, 5:34 pm EST

I also want to know if The Beatles re releases will be catalog or new albums.

Mgywaoep | 7/13/2009, 9:42 pm EST

USMzy9

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