Continued Sales Success

For the seventh consecutive week, Michael has three of the five best-selling albums in the U.S. Number Ones sold 98,000 copies and would have topped The Billboard 200 for the sixth week if catalog albums were eligible to compete there. The Essential Michael Jackson sold 54,000 and would have held at #3. Thriller sold 47,000 and would have inched up from #5 to #4.

Michael has three albums in the top 15 on Nielsen/SoundScan's year-to-date sales chart. Number Ones holds at #2. Thriller jumps to #10, while The Essential Michael Jackson climbs to #15. Michael may become the first artist to have three albums in Nielsen/SoundScan's year-end top 20 since Garth Brooks achieved the feat in 1992.

Number Ones is vying to become only the third greatest hits album to rank #1 for the year on either Billboard's "year-end" charts or Nielsen/SoundScan's calendar year rankings. Elton John's Elton John--Greatest Hits was Billboard's leader for 1974. Number Ones may become the first catalog album and the first album by a deceased performer to wind up as the #1 album of the year on either list, going back to 1956.

The Essential Michael Jackson is #1 in the U.K. for the sixth straight week. That is the longest continuous run on top in that country since Leona Lewis' Spirit had seven straight weeks at #1 from November 2007 to January 2008.

Source: http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/40484/aug-9-2009-better-than-a-crystal-ball/

& MJFC