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The Times Online reports that sales of Michael Jackson’s music after his sudden death have soared past posthumous sales of both Elvis and John Lennon’s music. 

HMV chief Simon Fox reports that sales of Jackson’s albums have increased eighty fold since he suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on Thursday, June 25. Jackson sold an impressive 750 million albums during his lifetime, including his bestselling Thriller.

The music retail chain had stocked up on Michael Jackson albums in anticipation of the singer’s fifty-show residency at the O2 Arena, but sold out of Jackson records on Saturday and had to reorder stocks from Sony.

The hit compilation Number Ones has been Jackson’s biggest seller at HMV, followed by the 1983 album Thriller – thought by many to be the icon’s greatest career album and actually the worldwide bestselling album of all time.  Thriller is followed in current sales by King of Pop, a record that was released to celebrate the singer’s fiftieth birthday last year.  Off the Wall, Jackson’s first solo album, follows close behind.
“Man in the Mirror” is the most downloaded single at hmv.com, a trend that has also been noted in the States via iTunes.  In the 1988 single Jackson sings that in order to make a change in the world, he is “starting with the man in the mirror”.

Concert promoters AEG Live are facing estimated losses of £300 million because they were unable to insure 30 of the performances Jackson was scheduled to perform at the London O2.  AEG president Randy Phillips has stated that concert rehearsal footage of Jackson may be released.
Fans have been offered refunds or souvenir tickets for tickets to Jackson’s This Is It performances, which ran from £50 to £75.