/ Cory Doctorow / 9:56 pm Tue Jul 14, 2009

Michael Jackson didn't sell 750 million records

Barry sez, "No, Michael Jackson did not sell 750 million albums, so says an interesting article in the WSJ. The WSJ article generously spins the error as a misinterpretation of songs sold versus albums -- but that's giving a PR flack way too much credit. Those of us who earn our living in the economic trenches deciphering PR spin know a good bullshit tale when we see one. 750 million albums sure as hell qualifies!"

Off-the-Wall Tallies of Jackson's Sales (Thanks, Barry!)

25

  1. You know what, Barry? I don’t care.

    Since his death, so much energy has been put into one-upmanship in dancing on Michael Jackson’s grave. Absolutely odious and distasteful.

  2. How are royalties estimated then? There must exist a more accurate source for that purpose alone.

  4. #1: Why would correcting factual errors about the man’s life be “odious and distasteful”?

  5. I never gave much thought to record sales reports until I attended the NAMM convention in 1990. I stayed in LA with a woman whose job it was to call record stores and ask them to inflate sales reports for her clients’ records.

    A short while later they connected the cash registers directly to the Billboard charts (putting this lady out of a job), and the crappy pop stuff fell off the charts to be replaced by rap and country. Go figure.

  6. (insert standard reply:)

    I don’t care. Michael Jackson is and will forever be the King of Pop. Why do you hate America?

  7. Why does it have to be wrong upwards? I say if he sold one, he sold a billion. At least – One Billion Albums.

    And ain’t no-one gonna Beat It.

  9. A long time ago (high school), my local record shop let it slip to me that they were recording sales of singles and albums for a week to report to Billboard. So that week, I and everyone I could talk into it, bought one or more of a Beatles’ cover single by the Sandpipers. It was already in the high 90s on the Hot 100 chart, and I figured that a few dozen extra copies at one store might be fun. It jumped up to the low 60s the next week, then dropped off the chart entirely the week after the local store reported sales. Didn’t the soundtrack of the Sgt. Pepper movie get its gold and platinum albums taken away after shipping multi platinum only to see more than 90% of the LPs returned unsold?

  10. It’s not bullshit. The Grammys still give “Record of a Year” to a song. It is perfectly plausible that an industry insider used the lingo mistakenly.

  11. Of course Jacko never sold that many! His 80s reboot career was a complete sham from beginning to end. They took an aging former child star and surgically disfigured him into a 2-legged poodle, and MTV stuffed him down a gullible public’s throat.

  13. What I find “odious and distasteful” is the mythology built up around this freakshow. MJ was trash and he died an emaciated junkie, just like any other has-been pop star.
    He was the King of Pop because he said he was, and people who lap that stuff up are pathetic.
    Everything about him was a lie, but those lies are hard to sustain when you end up on a coroner’s table.

  14. Paul Simon isn’t an emaciated junkie.

    And MJ wasn’t trash. C’mon – fess up – I bet you’ve got Thriller in your possessions.

    ONE BILLION (and, by the way – COUNTING)

  15. Tear him down, drink his blood, find another. Tear him down, drink his blood, find another.

    @Aldasin, I’ll guess you’ve never been a child celebrity who had his life twisted and distorted by almost everyone you trust just to keep you laying golden eggs. But then, that’s likely a lie, too, because you, you know, don’t you.

  17. “you’ve never been a child celebrity who had his life twisted and distorted by almost everyone you trust”

    So you’re saying trust was violated? Lies were told?
    It sounds like you would agree with me if you weren’t blinded by celebrity worship.
    It’s funny to hear the true believers deny that he did anything wrong, but then switch to the victim strategy. Pick a story and stick with it.
    Michael Jackson the child was exploited.
    Michael Jackson the adult was free to make his own choices, and choose an entirely different life.
    He chose poorly, and the fact that he shit out some disposable pop ditties does nothing to change that.

  18. @17 … um, anger.

    In fact, he was locked into a system of choices created by his parenting and early environment. Like we all are, mysteriously.

    Nonsense “disposable pop ditties”. You nonsense! If half of the planet can recognise at least one of his songs within four seconds of play, I’d say the term “disposable pop ditties” is inaccurate.

    And we know they can, because ONE BILLION of his albums (and counting) were sold.

    You do, don’t you – you have Thriller! Fantastic – a closet fan. You Dirty Diana, you!

  22. I demand a one year moratorium on all press/media/blog/whatever mentions of Michael Jackson, other than the playing of his music and/or videos.

  23. Calm down aldasin – so much hate.

    Just like there is no hard evidence of his total record sales, there is also no hard evidence of the accusations made against him in relation to child molestation.

    If you are happy to accept a lack of information on one side, why is it such a problem to accept a lack of information on the other side?

    Obviously just a net floater, trying to spread your opinion whilst no one cares what you think.

  24. @20 actually only 310,000 (vinyl included) – until his sad and untimely passing, I was picking them up at good prices. Now, well.

    I’ll never get them all – and collecting every single copy of MP3 releases looks like a mammoth task, but I can certainly make my mark.

    And Aldasin hasn’t responded – he’s rooting around wildly in his closets, desperately trying to prove to himself he’s not come into contact with Thriller. But it’s a lost cause – everyone on the planet has.

    It is apparent that, he does not have the soul for getting down.

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