Michael Jackson Gives Wal-Mart A Reason To Sell Music One More Time

Thanks to the help of savvy merchandisers in Bentonville, Ark., Michael Jackson will rule the album-charts roost in the second week following his death. According to industry rag Hits Jackson’s essentials collection Number Ones sold some 225,000 copies last week at Wal-Mart outlets alone, propelling the compilation’s single-week sales total to somewhere above the 300,000 mark: “We’re told that about half of the end caps were taken up by M.J. product and that, in some locations, Jackson CDs were merchandised in at least a half-dozen other areas throughout the store. The selling price was $9 even.” That’s 50 cents a song! A few albums whose single-week total Number Ones will beat should these numbers hold out: • Kelly Clarkson, All I Ever Wanted (255,000 first-week sales) • The Jonas Brothers, Lines, Vines, & Trying Times (247,000 first-week sales) • Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown (215,000 first-week sales) • Bob Dylan, Together Through Life (125,000 first-week sales) Etc. (I won’t include Chrisette Michele’s Epiphany to be nice.) And just for further comparison, the Hits album-chart predictions that were released on Friday, before news of Jackson’s Arkansas-fueled dominance hit the wires, with Jackson albums in bold and new entries starred: * Now 31 (Sony Music) 140-145k Thriller (Epic) 120-125k * Brad Paisley (Arista Nashville) 120-125k * Rob Thomas (Atlantic) 105-110k * Wilco (Nonesuch) 100-105k Essential Michael Jackson (Epic) 95-100k Number Ones (Epic) 75-80k Black Eyed Peas (Interscope) 60-65k * Killswitch Engage (Roadrunner) 55-60k * Jeremih (Def Jam/IDJ) 45-50k Jonas Brothers (Hollywood) 35-40k Eminem (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) 30-35k Dave Matthews Band (RCA/RMG) 30-35k Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (WB) 30-35k Lady Gaga (Interscope) 30-35k Kings of Leon (RCA/RMG) 30-35k Poor Wilco, always getting screwed by big-music-business shenanigans. And, uh, Rob Thomas. Rumor Mill [Hits]