Est. 1998
It’s no surprise that January has long been regarded as the darkest month of the year due to fading Christmas memories, foul weather, debt, etc. For the King of Pop, however, it was business as usual as January saw the artist’s Number Ones album re-enter both the USA and British album charts while simultaneously lengthening it’s stellar 63 week+ consecutive chart run in Australia. Meanwhile, in a follow up to last month’s report, additional 2004 year-end chart information reveals the artist racked up extra honors Stateside as his multi-platinum Number Ones DVD ranked as the 5th Best Selling Music Video of the Year while over in the UK, for the second year in a row, Michael Jackson was the #1 solo catalog artist of 2004 with the most titles on the UK End Of Year Catalog Chart.
USA
With sales of approximately 60,000 units** for the month of January, Michael Jackson’s library of Epic/Sony era material continued to demonstrate it’s enduring appeal in the United States. In fact, Jackson’s Number Ones album re-entered the Billboard 200 on January 13th posting three consecutive weeks of increased sales climbing 177-170-162. With combined CD/DVD sales of over 30,000 units for the month, the Number Ones project continued to roll forward in the USA as the platinum* album and triple platinum* DVD amassed 24 and 46 weeks respectively on the charts.
In other Number Ones news, Billboard’s End Of Year 2004 video survey yielded more kudos for the King Of Pop as the aforementioned Number Ones DVD came in at #5 on the Top Comprehensive Music Videos Sales chart and #12 on the Top Music Video sales chart – an impressive showing in light of the fact that, according to p2pnet.net, the Number Ones DVD was Sony Music’s top selling music video DVD worldwide for 2003.***
And finally, January wouldn’t be complete without mentioning that the artist’s legendary mainstay on the R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Chart Thriller amassed its 320th week on the chart shifting an additional 14,000 units for the month.
UK
The United States wasn’t the only territory that saw a surge in January sales for Jackson’s Number Ones album. In fact, the artist’s British fans outdid their U.S. counterparts by moving the album back into the Top 75 on January 2nd with a monthly chart performance that looked exactly like this: 53-48-56-64. The 5X platinum* album has now amassed a cumulative 10 months inside the Top 75 Album Chart.
In other news, leading British trade publication Musicweek yielded more great news for the King Of Pop on 1st January as, for the second year in a row, Michael Jackson was the #1 solo catalog artist in the UK. In a repeat of 2003’s chart performance, Jackson had the most titles on the UK End Of Year 2004 Catalog Chart with the same three albums in the same order: Thriller improved 9-6, Off The Wall slipped 16-17 and Bad stumbled 22-47, with sales of 134,729, 91,675 and 56,209, respectively. Interestingly, 1979’s Off The Wall was one of the oldest titles on the list.
With sales of 660,000 albums for 2004 (excluding sales of Jackson 5/Jacksons releases), Michael Jackson was the UK’s 30th Best Selling Albums Artist of 2004. Thanks to such an impressive showing in 2004, Jackson was the highest climber of the year on The Guinness British Hit Singles and Albums book which ranks artists every year according to how many weeks they have spent in the UK singles and albums charts. He is now number eight.
Australia
In keeping with it’s uninterrupted 16 month chart run, Michael Jackson’s triple platinum* Number Ones retained another five weeks on the ARIA Urban Album Chart in January. The album remained fixed in the Top 20 and charted as follows: 14-12-17-13-17. Elsewhere on the same chart, the gold certified The Very Best Of The Jacksons album continued treading ground with a 32-37-dropout-39-38 chart run for the month.
Living up to it’s title as Australia’s #1 Best Selling Music DVD of 2004, Jackson’s 8X platinum Number Ones DVD also flexed it’s chart muscle in the Top 30 as follows: 20-26-18-13-18. The title has now spent an impressive 59 weeks on the ARIA Top 40 Music DVD Chart.
Summary
Thanks to a successful January chart run coupled with additional End Of Year 2004 chart news, the new year kicked off nicely for the King Of Pop. With February already in full gear, it’s worth noting that Jackson’s Number Ones album posted its fifth consecutive week of increased sales in the USA last week – up 41% selling 9,198 units.
And the record continues to spin.
* Certification figure based on shipment information compiled in each respective country/territory.
** This tally does not include sales for The Ultimate Collection (4 CD/1 DVD), single sales, certain music DVD titles (eg. The One, Dangerous: The Short Films, Moonwalker, The Making Of Thriller, etc.), material recorded with The Jacksons, and Motown era Jackson 5/solo recordings.
*** As per Billboard, the Top Comprehensive Music Video Sales chart focuses solely on stand-alone video titles (DVD or VHS). Meanwhile, the Top Music Video Sales Chart includes combo packages that include both CD and DVD components.
Source: MJJ Source
