Three Michael Jackson Albums Break 100,000 Sales Mark

Three Michael Jackson Albums Break 100,000 Sales Mark
6/30/09, 10:07 am EST


Michael Jackson will likely be the King of Pop Charts this week after three of the singer’s albums sold more than 100,000 copies following news of his sudden death, Billboard.biz reports. Final numbers aren’t due until tomorrow, but Thriller, Number Ones and The Essential Michael Jackson are expected to top six-figures based on sales through Sunday, June 28th. The three releases are more than likely to top the Pop Catalog Charts, with Jackson on pace to potentially fill six to nine (or even all 10) of that chart’s Top 10 with albums like Bad, Off the Wall, greatest hits collections and even some Jackson 5 compilations. Last week, the entire Jackson catalog combined only sold 10,000 copies, according to Billboard.

While the three Jackson albums would also likely top the Top 200 charts — the Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D. is on pace for less than 100K sold — because the Jackson albums are considered catalog releases, they are ineligible for the Top 200 charts and will instead feature on the Pop Catalog chart and the Top Comprehensive Albums chart. Catalog releases are albums that were released at least 18 months ago. Last year, Jackson’s Thriller reissue topped the Pop Catalog chart with 166,000 in sales in its first week, Billboard notes.

According to Billboard, the majority of Jackson’s new sales came from digital outlets, as physical stores were unable to keep their shelves stocked to keep with the demand for Jackson — a phenomenon Rolling Stone witnessed first-hand in the hours after Jackson’s death. The Essential Michael Jackson alone was downloaded roughly 70,000 times. As Rolling Stone previously reported, Jackson dominated both the iTunes and the Amazon MP3 charts in the day following news of his death. The album sales mirror Jackson’s meteoric rise on the radio as well, with Jackson’s airplay up 1,735 percent from the previous week per Nielsen.