I Eat Music

As expected, Michael Jackson’s memorial service last week continued to keep interest in his music at an all-time high. So, Florence & The Machine, who were on track to have the number one album in the early part of the week, end up, like La Roux last week, in the number two position. In fact, interest has remained at such a high level that Jacko has managed to shift 600,000 records for the second week in a row, meaning that since his death he’s sold over 1.5 million singles and albums in the UK alone.

Let’s just concentrate on the top ten albums for now, where Jackson continues to hold the number one spot with ‘The Essential Michael Jackson’. ‘Off The Wall’ is at three, ‘Thriller’ is at four, ‘The Motown Years’ is at five, former number one, ‘Number Ones’, is at seven, and the 25th anniversary edition of ‘Thriller’ is at number nine. So that’s six Jacko albums in the top ten in total. One of them twice.

Florence & The Machine not only knock La Roux off the number two spot, but also steal the record for the highest first week sales of a debut album this year, which the rubbish 80s-influenced duo only managed to keep hold of for a week. La Roux are now at number six, two positions ahead of this week’s second highest new entry, Cascada.

The only other new entries in this week’s album chart are Kings Of Leon with a box set of all three of their albums, The Benny Andersson Band with ‘Story Of A Heart’, and the Neil Hannon-fronted Duckworth Lewis Method with their eponymous debut album.

Over in the singles chart, there’s also a whole lot of Jackson. A few tracks have dropped out of the top 200, but he’s still got 46 singles in there, 11 of which are in the top 40. ‘Man In The Mirror’ remains his highest charting single, slipping from number two to number three this week. The only new Jackson single in the chart this week is, thanks to that memorial service, his version of ‘Smile’.

Cascada hold on to the number one spot for the second week, and new entries among the singles come from Chipmunk with ‘Diamond Rings (feat. Emili Sande)’ at six, Arctic Monkeys with ‘Crying Lightning’ at 12, and VV Brown with ‘Shark In The Water’ at 38.

The weekly shuffling of Michael Jackson records is curated by The Official Charts Company.

If this keeps up, they’re going to have to rename the charts the Michael Jackson Memorial List because, following the first full week after his death, the singer’s music has yet again made up a significant amount of record sales.

With ‘Man In The Mirror’ rising to number two in the singles chart, Jackson also managed to get five singles in the top 20, 13 in the top 40, 27 in the top 75 and a staggering 49 in the top 200. Albums-wise, he still holds the number one spot, although this week it’s with ‘The Essential Michael Jackson’, rather than ‘Number Ones’, which this week is at number three. In total, there are five Jackson albums in the top ten, eight in the top 40, and twelve in the top 200. Collectively, Jackson accounts for 600,000 record sales last week.

Of course, this means that the album which had been set for the number one spot in the midweeks, La Roux’s eponymous debut, is at number two. However, despite the number of people rushing out to spend their money on Michael Jackson, the duo still managed to gain the highest number of first week sales for a debut album this year. La Roux’s latest single, ‘Bulletproof’, drops from number one to number three this week, replaced at the top by Cascada with ‘Evacuate The Dancefloor’.

New entries in the top 40 singles chart this week come from Cascade, Jamie T with ‘Sticks N Stones’, Pitbull with ‘I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)’, Black Eyed Peas with ‘I Gotta Feeling’, and Michael Jackson with ‘Black Or White’, ‘Dirty Diana’, ‘They Don’t Care About Us’, ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’, ‘You Are Not Alone’, ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’, and ‘Bad’.

New entries in the albums top 40 are La Roux, Ali Campbell with ‘Flying High’, The Kenyan Boys Choir with ‘Spirit Of Africa’, Killswitch Engage with ‘Killswitch Engage’, and Michael Jackson with ‘The Very Best of Michael Jackson & The Jackson Five’ and ‘HIStory: Past, Present & Future Book 1′.

With the continued focus on Michael Jackson this week, particularly around his memorial service at the Staples Centre on Tuesday, the surge in sales of his music looks like it may increase again this week. It’s entirely possible that there will be even more Jacko records in the charts this Sunday.

The charts are compilated by The Official Charts Company.