Michael Jackson’s This Is It soundtrack sold 43,000 copies this week which takes the album’s total to 3.68 million worldwide.

56,000 copies this week takes the This Is It soundtrack album’s total to 3.64 million worldwide.

Another 68,000 copies of Michael Jackson’s This Is It soundtrack have been gobbled up around the world this week taking his collective sales total to 3.58 million in countries that track sales figures.

The 25th Anniversary re-recording and re-release of Michael Jackson’s USA For Africa charity single “We Are The World” (originally released in 1985 featuring and array of 80’s superstars) has gone directly to the #1 spot on the American iTunes charts within only hours of it’s release! This time around the song is being released to benefit the victims of the Haiti earthquake tragedy.

The new tune features the likes of Jennifer Hudson, Celine Dion, Kanye West, Wyclef Jean, Akon, Usher and many more - 80 stars in total.

The track also includes the original vocal AND video footage of Michael Jackson’s part in the song. At one point he sings in a duet with sister Janet Jackson.

The track also includes a brand new rap segment written for the updated version.

CLICK HERE to buy the track from USA iTunes.

Do your bit to support a good cause.

Chart position updates to follow in the coming weeks.

Michael Jackson’s DVD and Bluray Disc of his This Is It film has just been released, and, in true MJ style has broken the record for the largest first week sales in history for a DVD.

In total, Neilson Soundscan reported that This Is It had sold 1.2 million (1,200,000) copies in it’s first week in the USA alone!

The same title also smashed records in Japan, selling $18 million worth of DVDs and Bluray Discs in it’s first week there!

This Is It will undoubtedly continue to crush DVD and Bluray sales records as it becomes available in more and more countries. Next up is the UK on 22nd of Feb. Two weeks later it hits Australia on 3rd March.  Large scale promotions are in the works for both releases.

In other This Is It news, the CD soundtrack has racked up another 100,000 sales this week ending Friday, bringing it’s overall total past 3.51 million worldwide!

Michael Jackson fans on the Gold Coast, Australia will have the opportunity to see a spectacular tribute to the King of Pop this April.

The Australia Salutes Michael Jackson stage show which is proudly supported by Qld Finance Group (Commercial Finance & Financial Planning) arrives at the Gold Coast Arts Centre for one night only on Saturday 17th April 2010.

Ticket prices are as follows:

Adults $34.90
Pensioners / Seniors $29.90
Children / Students $24.90
Family (2x adult + 2x kid) $95.00 ($23.75 per ticket)
Group $22.90 each (10 or more)

CLICK HERE to order tickets!

For more information on book you can phone the Gold Coast Arts Centre Ticket Office on (07) 5588 4000.

Michael Jackson’s This Is It sountrack has sold 135,000 copies worldwide in the past fortnight. These numbers take the total sales tally to over 3.35 million copies.

Reminder: The GRAMMY Awards are coming on Jan 31st! Look out for the MJ Tribute performance of Earth Song!

Michael Jackson’s This Is It sountrack sold another 100,000 copies around the world this week pushing it’s sales tally to just over 3.2 million copies.

With the Grammy Awards and subsequent release of the DVD and Bluray of the This Is It movie, album sales are sure to remain steady through the early months of 2010.

Lenny has made the following video blog on his youtube channel regarding the song. Very interesting. If we are lucky it may very well be released. Stay tuned..

And unreleased MJ song being called “Another Day” has leaked via youtube and online file sharing sites.

Michael Jackson can be heard on vocals. The track is supposedly a collaboration with Lenny Kravitz. My guess is it’s from 2000/01.

Cool chorus! Invincible was lacking a track like this one!

Those are the words of will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas) when being interviewed alongside Michael Jackson in October, 2006. Jackson was then taking the initial first steps towards re-entering the music industry’s limelight after a lengthy and well earned break from recording and performing. The break served as a chance for Michael to raise his three young children.

For three years following that interview, producers and musicians spoke to media about working with Michael Jackson. None of them were able to talk in detail about the projects, but they all had one particular comment in common; MJ was in perfect form, focused, being very picky and coming back in BIG way!

Fast forward to March, 2009.

The words of will.i.am from his 2006 interview rang immediately true. The jolt, the “monstrosity of entertainment and music” was put back in the music industry in way that many critics and even some fans had never expected.

Jackson stepped out on a podium at London’s O2 Arena looking better than he had in a decade. He looked young, fresh, rejuvenated and most striking of all, confident! He looked like the superstar many believed was a thing of the past. He spoke briefly but strongly. He was returning to the stage to thrill his fans once again.

He announced that he would perform for the very last time in London, at the O2 Arena, 10 times over in July, 2009. He expressed that these shows would be his last ever in the city of London, calling the concert series “This Is It” and refereeing to it as his “Final Curtain Call”. Fans went crazy. MJ’s catalogue albums went on sale. The name Michael Jackson returned to peak positions in the charts, and the front of every newspaper – for the RIGHT reasons! Jacksonmania was buzzing intensely and he hadn’t even stepped on stage yet. The King of Pop was BACK!

Tickets went on pre-sale. The demand was so enormous that an additional 21 shows had to be added. MJ was now doing 31 shows in London; a feat never before achieved. But that still wasn’t even close to enough. 31 shows soon became 50 shows; all to be carried out at the O2 Arena in London. All 50 shows sold out in merely hours. One million tickets snapped up instantly. I got my tickets and it was surreal. This was really happening!

Months passed by; Michael and his team of directors, choreographers, dancers, vocalists, band and technical crew worked tirelessly on what was being billed by concert promoters as the biggest, most technologically advanced and expensive arena show ever mounted. Two hour all-singing, all-dancing spectaculars incorporating a diverse balance both of iconic and new choreography and costuming blended with brand new video elements and sets designed to take the audience on a visual and musical adventure never seen before in live concert entertainment.

June 25^th, 2009.

We all know what happened that ill-fated day in June ’09. The tragic passing of the world’s greatest ever star. Michael Jackson dies from cardiac arrest at his Los Angeles home while his “This Is It” crew sit around, unaware, in the change rooms at The Staples Centre, watching videos of MJ in “The Wiz” on a laptop, waiting for him to arrive for yet another regular but gruelling day of rehearsals. MJ would never arrive. The rehearsal that day, and the shows in London, were not to be. In the ironic and chilling words of Michael Jackson himself; “This is it, this is really it.”

That day, the world stopped. When I say world, I mean the entire world. Michael Jackson is the ONLY person to have truly impacted on every corner of the globe. Every country. Every race. Every religion. Every colour. Every age. Even language barriers didn’t stop people from knowing who Michael Jackson was, listening to and singing his music, and loving him wholeheartedly.

The world mourned his passing, and celebrated his life at the same time. As I always say, we need not be depressed that MJ was taken from us, but be eternally grateful that he was given to us for 50 world-changing years in the first place. He is gone in body, but his spirit, soul and message are now spreading and infecting the world all over again, and will continue to do so forever. Heaven couldn’t wait, MJ was called, and he moonwalked right through the gates. And although the man has passed, his star is now shining brighter than ever!

R.I.P. Michael Jackson

I love you.

2009 Statistics

Before his death Michael broke the record for the highest amount of ticket sales in a single city, selling one million (1,000,000) tickets to his 50x sold out concerts at London’s O2 Arena.

The brightness of his star was also reflected by his record breaking post-death achievements.

In the past 6 months (since June 25^th, 2009) Michael Jackson has sold approximately 30 million (30,000,000) albums. This does not include his single, video, ringtone or DVD sales. Those stats included you can readjust the figure to somewhere over the 50 million (50,000,000) mark. These sorts of sales numbers could be achieved by Michael Jackson and ONLY Michael Jackson.

Michael’s memorial service was broadcast live on television, radio and internet simultaneously around the world and was seen and heard by more than ONE BILLION people.

Michael Jackson’s This Is It documentary film grossed $250 million at the box office in its limited time showing in cinemas – Only 5-6 weeks (depending where in the world you are). It became the biggest earning concert/documentary film in history in both the USA and Worldwide. Once again, only Michael Jackson could achieve this. And never will it be topped.

His Internet achievements are nothing short of mind blowing either! Some 15 BILLION Michael Jackson video clips were streamed online this year. Astonishing considering there are only 6.6 billion people on earth. MJ’s Facebook page accumulated more than 10 million (10,000,000) friends; more than any other Facebook page in existence. He broke the world record on iTunes for music downloads; becoming the first artist to sell 1 million downloads in a week. Not only was he the first to achieve this, but he did so by selling 2.6 million downloads in a week - feat that will likely NEVER be conquered. And, of course, the words “Michael Jackson” were the most frequently entered in search engines during 2009. People wanted to know about MJ more than anything else in the world.

Additionally, MJ was nominated for 5x American Music Awards this year! Going into the night he already held the world record for having won the most American Music Awards in history; 22 in total. By the end of the night his overall tally had increased to 26, after winning four out of a possible five trophies!

The Future

The records and accolades won’t stop now, as we transition from 2009 to 2010.

In January, 2010, Michael will be awarded with his 14^th Grammy award; A Lifetime Achievement award. This will be Michael’s first Grammy Award since 1996, and almost certainly not his last.

Sales records will likely continue to tumble also. His record label Sony Music Entertainment has a golden opportunity to give fans some incredible releases. Special editions and repackages of his existing albums will almost certainly come out by the many; the first of which being an already in-the-works ‘30^th Anniversary’ edition of the “Off the Wall” album.

DVD and Blu-ray releases have limitless possibilities too, especially with the endless state of the art visual library of music videos, concerts and behind the scenes documentary footage Michael had filmed throughout his life.

On top of this, there are ongoing discussions between Michael Jackson’s Estate and those who Michael was collaborating with on brand NEW music before his passing. Hearing Michael’s final recordings would really be incredible.

Final thoughts

Michael Jackson was the physical embodiment of love in its purest form; a messenger for peace, caring and humanity. Not only was he the world’s biggest icon of music, dance, videos and performance, but in many ways he was somewhat of a religious figure to fans around the world. It’s not hard to see why. Take the lyrics of songs like Can You Feel It, We Are the World, Man in the Mirror, Heal the World and Earth Song for example. These are not just songs. These are messages that Michael wanted to, and did, expose to the world. His music catalogue is unbelievably extensive. It could be looked at as an audio autobiography, a bible or guide on how the world should be. If we all just listened to Michael Jackson, the world we live in now would be a far better one. 

Happy New Years,

Damien Shields

31.12.2009