Jackson’s catalog of solo albums sold 800,000 copies in the Unites States, an increase of 90% compared to the previous week according to Billboard.
“Physical albums accounted for 82% of Jackson’s sales last week — 656,000 physical albums versus 144,000 download albums”.
Jackson’s total song download sales this week total 2.2 million downloads. With that said, Michael Jackson made records, not singles.
It’s not that he didn’t make singles, it’s that he made a ton of singles. Weren’t 6 of the 9 tracks on Thriller top 10 hits? That’s practically a singles collection unto itself. And Number Ones & the Essential Michael Jackson are the biggest sellers. But not all of the records are as good as Thriller… even Off the Wall/Bad/Dangerous… those records are easily trumped by the singles collections. And the 4 great records were released over 13 years, so there’s less filler.
But this speaks to all sorts of things much more so than whether or not Michael wrote singles or albums. A lot of those records are $15 to $20 on iTunes… people don’t feel like they’re getting enough to put down that kind of crash for mp3s. The feeling is that you’re paying more for the convenience & getting less, so 1,440,000 singles is a pretty big deal. But people want so many singles that it’s a better perceived value proposition to go out & buy the cd. There’s a cap of what is ever going to be sold on iTunes because it’s a singles medium. The perceived value just isn’t there, & with the recent price hike there’s even less reason to use it for anything but impulse purchasing. If digital sales were done better, the numbers would look a lot different.
Also Michael Jackson has become (through his singles) a part of a lot of people’s identity. Owning the album (or singles collection, as it were) is more than just having the songs, it’s like inheriting something from a friend who passed away. It’s a sentimental thing. You don’t get that from an mp3.
Yes, 9 out of the 10 tracks on Thriller were singles. Absolutely amazing. When is the last time you purchased an album or digital album that consisted of incredible songs, from beginning to end?
I think it also has to do with age and demographics. I was a young child in the thriller days and I had the vinyl. I know that several older members of my family went out and purchased the cds after he died – older people tend to lean towards a physical product, especially the ones who aren’t hip to the digital stuff.
Sure, but the language obscures your point… I can’t tell whether you’re speaking from a fan perspective or a marketing perspective. I can rattle off a list of records that came out in the past few years where every song was strong, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they would’ve been hit singles as defined by radio.
To an extent I agree, but when I think of an album artist, I think of someone like the Elected. Sun Sun Sun is a prefect record, though it was never destined for dance floor fame. That doesn’t mean that every tone isn’t immaculate, that every note wasn’t performed with a delicacy & restraint that transcends our times, that every lyric wasn’t written to be thoughtful but tactful & that every line wasn’t sung with absolute sincerity.
The Elected write albums. Michael Jackson wrote singles, songs that were very practical from a marketing perspective (i.e. songs that work well in large groups of people, thereby market themselves, & songs that endure by serving as a dance beat or as a source of social energy). He just wrote so many singles that it made acquiring them through the iTunes singles-focused model (i.e. making more money off of less, charging for convenience) impractical. And that’s why the iTunes model is broken & why it’s tied down by overpricing.
But model-talk aside, we both agree that bands should write more songs that people feel are worth paying for. There is no point in releasing a mediocre song. However, I don’t know if “write better songs” is advice that helps anyone out.
What is to be observed is that Michael Jackson wasn’t conventional, which is what this blog often seems to hype. He wasn’t commercial, he only accidentally defined what was commercial (something that is ripe to be re-defined). In truth, greatness is commercial & Michael Jackson was great. You’ll only ever get there by accident. Break out of what is the norm, don’t conform to it. Push the boundaries… Off the Wall pushed a lot of boundaries, & then Thriller pushed those & Bad in turn pushed those. That’s why his records started sounding so schizophrentic. But that’s the arc of Michael Jackson’s story… the point is not to copy or to top, but to push & to explore.
This is why I think an artist like MGMT is so important. That record is solid all the way through, it’s very dancable, & it pushes a lot of boundaries. We need more stuff like that. Benji Hughes, too. Benji is one of the most underrated artists in music right now. And the Elected.
Well, I personally was speaking from both the fan and marketing aspects. Sometimes those lines gets blurred. I agree with you, that man knew how to write a single! It’s crazy because any given song could could turn a person on to his music for a totally different reason. In the case of itunes, their pricing system is definitely broke. In a lot of cases it is cheaper to purchase an album the first week it comes out when it’s on sale, then you can have a physical and a digital track, and legally.
People can sit and argue all day about being commercial and writing hits, and everyone still be totally right. For instance. Take the band Nickelback, they’re nearly taboo to tell someone that you like them. But they have singles! I’m convinced that those guys write singles while on the toilet, or or anything else random. Many great singles on an album = good product. But with a band like them, you also know what you’re gonna get. A couple heavy songs, a couple ballads, and a few “yeah a yeahs”…but its still good.
Someone like M.J you’re always wondering what they’re gonna do next, and even though you don’t know, you anticipate that it’s gonna be great. Like I think I’ve seen it mentioned around here, look at how many people recently who have because extremely popular by imitating him. If there were no Michael Jackson, would there be an Usher, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, etc.? That’s how immortality works… your music, life, and legacy living on through other people. And you’re correct.. That comes but stumbling onto it, pushing the boundaries, and trying to make the best product you can… That’s being a true artist….