Megasales Before Death ... Mega-Megasales Now

Just four hours after the announcement of his death, Jackson had the number-one slot on the album download chart at Apple's iTunes store, "The Essential Michael Jackson."

By Friday morning, 40 Jackson tracks were in the top 100, five of which were in the top 10, with "Man in the Mirror" and "Thriller" leading the way. The top seven downloaded albums were from Jackson, led by Sony Music's "The Essential Michael Jackson" at number one and "Thriller" at number two.

Eight of the top 10 videos were by Jackson with the video for "We Are the World," which Jackson co-wrote and performed on, taking up another slot.

Solo albums by Jackson and the Jackson 5 occupied the top 15 slots on Amazon's sales chart. "Thriller" was tops, followed by "Bad," "Off the Wall" and two hits collections. Neither Apple nor Amazon give out specific sales figures.

An executive with a former major chain store who requested that he not be identified said his company's stores saw a rush on Janis Joplin records when she died in 1970, and after that, the stores were prepared to display records whenever a performer passed away. Elvis Presley's sales far outdistanced those of other performers, with John Lennon estimated to be the second biggest seller post-death.  

It's likely Jackson's death will eclipse them all. Terry Currier, owner of Music Millennium in Portland, Oregon, said he received a phone call Thursday afternoon from a local TV station to comment on Jackson's death and that the station was interested in filming at his store."I hung up the phone and immediately called (a wholesaler)," Currier said. "We had about 30 or 40 pieces in stock and I knew that if I didn't order them right then I'd have nothing through the weekend."

Indeed, despite his troubles and tabloid appearances, Jackson has continued to mine gold.

When tickets went on sale for the 50 shows in London, the response was an astounding 16,000 web hits per second. If everyone who logged on had been able to purchase the tickets, the approximately 1 million tickets available would have sold out within 70 seconds.

The instant sell-outs reinforced the intensity of Jackson's celebrity, especially internationally, and the faith his fans have in his ability to deliver a show like no other. Jackson's concerts during the peak of his fame in the late 1980s were astoundingly elaborate affairs that were so expensive to mount that, in the long run, they were almost guaranteed to lose money.

Live performance was the final avenue for Jackson, whose named had been bandied about for an extensive residency in Las Vegas after he landed in financial hot water after prolonged legal battles. Jackson, winner of 13 Grammys and one of the few people to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist and a member of a group, had to refinance his music-publishing deal with Sony/ATV to retain control of the Beatles catalog and other valuable copyrights; he had to walk away from his Neverland Ranch.

The copyrights were Jackson's primary assets over the last decade as his albums had largely stopped selling.

 

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