Over two years after his premature death, Michael Jackson is once again back in the news. It’s another court case and although this time it’s his doctor who is in the dock, the intense media interest and wall-to-wall coverage shows that Michael Jackson is just as big news now as he was when he was alive. As Conrad Murray fights charges of involuntary manslaughter and to clear his name, experts predict that the trial will only serve to increase Michael Jackson’s posthumous sales.
Since his death, Jackson’s tracks have been downloaded more than 16 million times and there have been 10.6 million sales of albums. Although the bulk of the sales understandably came in the months following the King of Pop’s passing, sales since 2009 have remained steady. Figures show that from his death in June 2009 to December of the same year 11 million tracks and 9 million albums were sold. However, since then there have been a further 5.3 million tracks sold and 1.6 million albums.
The three albums that account for the bulk of these sales are ‘Number Ones’, ‘This Is It’, the album taken from rehearsals for the ill-fated ‘This Is It’ tour, and ‘Michael’, released towards the end of 2010.
Already in 2011, Michael Jackson has sold over 1.5 million tracks and five-hundred thousand albums. It shows the affection in which he is still held. The misfortunes of Dr Conrad Murray could well prove to serve as yet another boost for the Jackson family.