Stop me if this sounds familiar: American consumers bought a stunning 1.1 million Michael Jackson albums last week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. One disc alone, the greatest-hits set Number Ones, accounted for 349,000 in sales, far more than any album in the country. Yet since Number Ones is an old release, Billboard rules exclude it from the flagship Billboard 200 albums chart along with all the other Jackson discs that have been selling in large numbers following his tragic passing. This is now the third week in a row that Number Ones' posthumous sales have wreaked havoc by outperforming the Billboard 200's No. 1, something that had previously never happened in the publication's history. For the next few weeks, at least, you'll have to look at Billboard's Top Comprehensive Albums chart — a less commonly referenced index which, true to its name, collates all album sales information regardless of release date — to get an accurate picture of what's selling in the U.S.
Still, we shouldn't let this situation distract us completely from the fantastic numbers put up by Maxwell's BLACKsummers'night, which tops the Billboard 200 with 316,000 copies sold. Looks like the singer's eight-year hiatus built up some serious fan demand for his new one. No complaints from me: It's a great record that deserves that No. 1 spot, even if it got there via a loophole of sorts. Meanwhile, Miley Cyrus' latest project — that'd be Hannah Montana 3, in case you've lost track — moved 137,000 units. That's not quite up there with the mega-sales she saw for her first two TV soundtracks, but it still won her a No. 2 finish on the Billboard 200. Pop-punkers All Time Low, meanwhile, secured themselves an all-time high (see what I did there?) after selling 63,000 copies of their album Nothing Personal, good enough for No. 4.
And that was it for Top 20 debuts this week. Thoughts on those numbers? How much longer do you think Michael Jackson's catalog sales will keep outperforming new releases?
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I would say that this is the final week for MJ’s catalog to out-sell current releases since I’m uncertain just how big Daughtry’s new album will open. They’re the only real competition is see gunning for numero uno. The Dead Weather will debut top 10, but have no real radio hit or following other than obsessed White Stripes fans. Its just sad. As a music fan, i’m glad that people are actually buying albums, even old ones like MJ’s due to his death, but its even sadder, that 10 yrs. ago it was common place for more the ENTIRE top 10 on billboard to sel over 100,000 units a week. Now, due to downloading and kids feeling they shouldn’t have to pay for their music, we see MJ’s selling as a talking point, when in reality, his death has done more for the music business now, than he has in the past 10 yrs. Who cares what chart he appears on?? The fact that people are buying again won’t last for more than 2 more weeks tops. Then who will run THAT story!? Hmmm?
I think that Michael Jackson will still sell strongly every week, but you’ve got some big and also some promising names releasing their albums on July 14th, July 21st and July 28th. Daughtry will have a strong first week of sales, continuing where their last album left off. Maxwell had a solid first week and he could continue that for a month or so. And the Black Eyed Peas album is still a strong seller over a month later.
*school girl scream*
I love MAXWELL!!!
Maxwell’s album is garbage! Save ur $$$
Shut up Tabitha! His album is phenomenal. HATER!
It’s also pretty amazing that there are still fans in the world that DON’T own Thriller.
There is a major poll running over at http://www.tinyurl.com/evilgood as to whether Michael Jackson was good or evil. Evil is currently in the lead! I think this poll is being recorded in some sort of record book, anyways, everybody go vote for good!!
More than 80% of MJ’s sales were physical copies…the death of the CD has been greatly exaggerated.
Most of the folks buying MJ’s material are older people who don’t use the internet. So thats why the physical CD’s are flying off the shelves. But at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. He’s selling crazy units and the industry benefits from this upswing. These #s are usually reserved for the holiday season. Record stores should send thank you cards along with condolences to MJ’s estate.
Yet more evidence that American consumers are sheep.
I think the people that are buying CDs are people that bought the same album on tape or vinyl. I’m only 30 and my first MJ CD was Dangerous which in on tape . .so I purchased a few my boyfriend bit older loves J5 but again tapes . .so there you go we rebought all the stuff we already have just in the new format.
The Summer of Michael continues…
Anyone has his best record? here:
http://www.nowgoal.com/21.shtml
The MJ sales are mostly to people my age who are nostalgic for our youth and revisiting it through MJ’s music. Once reality steps back into the picture and people remember why they didn’t buy these in the first place, the numbers will go down. I suspect that will be around the time when the toxicology tests come back and the family starts fighting with each other again. Too bad, but it is really not the eighties any more.
Anth: More than 80% of MJ’s sales were physical copies…the death of the CD has been greatly exaggerated
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Yeah. Record labels and artists have been whining about online downloading driving down their sales (boo hoo). This proves that even in a recession, if people want your music they will buy it. To all the labels and their sucky artists: QUIT UR B*TCHING!!!!
Amazingly I became a much bigger Michael Jackson fan while watching American Idol this year. I didn’t own a single MJ album at that time. After hearing Allison Iraheta sing “Give Into Me”, I then spent a lot of time listening to his catalog and reading about his life. When MJ was big many years ago, I was much more of a rock fan and wasn’t interested in him except for “Beat It” at that time. My music interest is much wider now. I bought several of his CD’s because I only listen to FLAC (lossless) format. No MP3′s for me. No bad quality downloads for me.