Michael Jackson Downloads Soar in U.K., U.S.

In death, there is life, at least when it comes to downloads of the late Michael Jackson’s music.

paidContent:UK reported that several online-music retailers devoted their storefronts or gave significant space to Jackson in the hours following his death Thursday, and doing so paid off.

iTunes Store, Amazon MP3, Spotify and We7 were among those to feature Jackson.

According to paidContent:UK, 10 hours after the singer’s death, 21 of the top 100 iTunes U.S. tracks were his, with “Thriller” taking the top spot at No. 11. Across the pond, three Jackson songs were found in the U.K. version of iTunes.

The effects were more profound over the weekend, paidContent:UK added.

According to The Official UK Charts Co., seven Michael Jackson albums cracked the top 75, including Number Ones at No. 1 and Thriller at No. 7. As for the top 75 singles, Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 dominated, snatching 20 spots, with “Man in the Mirror” leading the way at No. 11.

As for iTunes, in the United Kingdom, eight of the top 10 albums belonged to Jackson, with Number Ones claiming the top spot, but “Man in the Mirror” was the only single to crack the top 10, coming in at No. 2. In the United States, Jackson also earned eight of the top 10 album spots, led by The Essential Michael Jackson, and eight of the top 10 singles spots, led by “Man in the Mirror.”

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.