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Michael Jackson's UK sales report
Despite the fact that less than 50 hours elapsed between the announcement of Michael Jackson's death and the end of the chart week, the frenzy that followed his death means that he posthumously has no fewer than 11 of the Top 200 albums and 43 of the Top 200 singles.
His Number Ones album returns to the top of the album chart for the first time since 2003, with sales of 46,403 copies, including 10,083 downloads.
Also in the Top 75: Thriller (number seven, 14,939 sales); King Of Pop (number 14, 12,165 sales); Off The Wall (number 17, 10,719 sales); The Essential (number 20, 10,664 sales); Thriller 25 (number 45, 4,930 sales); Bad (number 59, 3,934 sales). The record for most simultaneous Top 75 album chart entries is held, ironically, by Elvis Presley – father of his first wife, Lisa Marie. Following his equally untimely demise in 1977, Presley had 10 albums in the Top 75.
Jackson’s catalogue generated more than 124,000 album sales last week. More than 196,000 Jackson singles were also sold –the overwhelming majority in the form of downloads. Although none of his singles made as big an impression as Number Ones, 20 of them (16 solo and four with the Jacksons/Jackson Five) re-entered the Top 75. That’s the most simultaneous hits by one act in chart history.
Traditional wisdom would suggest that his biggest UK seller, Earth Song, or Billie Jean, which attracted more radio and TV airplay than any other following his death, would emerge as the top-ranked Jackson song – but the poignancy and personal nature of its lyrics made Man In The Mirror the runaway winner, with sales of 22,145 copies earning it a return to the chart at number 11, well clear of runner-up Thriller (number 23, 13,505 sales). Man In The Mirror was hitherto one of Jackson’s least successful singles, peaking at number 21 in 1988, to rank 42nd in his overall popularity list, with just 116,590 sales. It’s not only in the UK it is striking a chord either – in the USA it tops the download chart at the time of writing heading a mass influx of 49 songs by Jackson into the Top 100 on iTunes. It also leads the rankings in Canada, France and many other major territories.
Jackson is the UK’s sixth biggest-selling singles artist, with sales to date of nearly 12m, a total beaten only by Cliff Richard, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Madonna and Elton John. His all-time biggest-seller is Earth Song, which has sold 1,092,596 copies here, and re-enters the chart at number 38 this week on sales of 7,588 downloads. Three other Jackson tracks have sold more than 500,000 copies: One Day In Your Life (801,823), Billie Jean (752,766) and You Are Not Alone (587,722), with Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough (494,675) likely to join them later this week.
Jackson’s singles sales both in the UK and worldwide are dwarfed by his album sales, with his 1982 blockbuster Thriller judged to be the world’s biggest selling album of all-time, with sales variously reported at between 75m and 109m. In America, it is certainly the all-time number two album, with sales certified by the RIAA at 28m, a million below The Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 compilation. In the UK, the regular edition of Thriller is also Jackson’s biggest seller, with sales of 3,666,994 copies – enough for it to rank eight in the overall table of biggest domestic sellers by any act. Thriller 25 has sold a further 252,840 copies. Thriller follow-up Bad, which hit the streets in 1987, is Jackson’s second biggest seller here, with sales of 3,609,592 copies, and ranks immediately behind Thriller in the all-time UK table in ninth place. The third album by Jackson to top the 2m mark in the UK is Dangerous, the 1991 release selling 2,010,069 copies to date.
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