Michael Jackson Shatters Billboard Records

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1615071/20090701/jackson_michael.jhtml

Jul 1 2009
Michael Jackson Shatters Billboard Records
Jackson's music dominates the Top Pop Catalog, Digital Albums, Digital Songs and Top Comprehensive Albums charts.
By James Montgomery

Given the news all week of his posthumous sales surge, it comes as no surprise that Michael Jackson is officially the King of Pop charts again.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, Michael Jackson albums and Jackson-related compilations hold the top nine positions on Billboard's Top Pop Catalog chart, all posting remarkable jumps in sales in the days following the singer's death. (SoundScan tracks sales through the close of business on Sunday.)

Jackson himself holds a record eight of the top 10 spots, while a Jackson 5 compilation also landed in the upper tier of the chart. His Number Ones greatest hits package leads the pack at #1, selling more than 108,000 copies, a staggering 2,340 percent sales increase. The Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller follow at #2 and #3, selling more than 102,000 and 101,000 copies, respectively.

His breakthrough Off the Wall album is at #4, selling more than 33,000 copies nearly 30 years after it was initially released. The Jackson 5's Ultimate Collection is next at #5, with sales of more than 18,000 copies. His 1987 Bad album returns at #6 (17,000 sold); Dangerous is at #7 (14,000); HIStory — Volume 1 is at #8 (12,000); and the 2004 Jackson box set, The Ultimate Collection, lands at #9 (11,000).

The lone non-Jackson album in the top 10 is a reissue of the "Woodstock" movie soundtrack, which sold 8,000 copies to snag the #10 spot.

All in all, Jackson's solo albums sold more than 415,000 copies this past week, according to SoundScan, an amazing number, considering his titles sold a combined 10,000 copies in the week prior to his death. The one-week total is also nearly 40 percent more than what his catalog had sold in all of 2009.

Of the 415,000 albums sold, 58 percent were digital downloads, which means Jackson has set another record: He's the first artist to hold six of the top 10 slots on the Digital Albums chart, including the top four spots. He also holds a staggering 25 songs on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart, smashing a record set by David Cook last year.

Early SoundScan reports have the Black Eyed Peas' The E.N.D. claiming the top spot on next week's Billboard's Top 200, with sales of more than 88,000 copies. If that figure holds true, this week marks the first time that a catalog album has sold more copies than the album that sits at #1 on the Top 200.

Catalog albums — defined by Billboard as being albums that are more than 18 months old and have fallen below position 100 on the Billboard Top 200 chart — are ineligible to appear on the Top 200 albums chart. They can chart on the all-encompassing Top Comprehensive Albums list, where, once again, Jackson is on top, holding the top three positions on the chart, followed by The E.N.D. at #4.