At the time of his death, Jackson had been preparing for a series of comeback concerts, This Is It, due to begin in July 2009 in London in the United Kingdom. His death triggered reactions around the world, creating unprecedented surges of Internet traffic and a spike in sales of his music.[6] A televised memorial service, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, had an estimated 2.5 billion viewers.[7][8][9] In 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a US$250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017 and to release seven posthumous albums of unreleased material over the following decade.[10][11]
Circumstances
Jackson was taken by ambulance to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on June 25 where he arrived at 1:14 p.m. and was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m.
At the time of his death, Jackson was preparing for a series of comeback concerts, This Is It, due to begin in July 2009 at London's The O2 Arena.[12] On June 24, Jackson arrived for rehearsal at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, at around 6:30 p.m. According to the magician Ed Alonzo, Jackson jokingly complained of laryngitis and did not rehearse until 9 p.m. "He looked great and had great energy,"[12] Alonzo said. The rehearsal went past midnight.[12]
Jackson returned to his home at 100 North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills neighborhood around 12:30 a.m. the following morning and retired to bed one hour later.[13] Jackson had long suffered from insomnia, and had a history of using drugs in an attempt to help him sleep.[14] Jackson's physician Conrad Murray was present to help Jackson sleep and gave him various drugs including diazepam, lorazepam and midazolam while monitoring him by his bedside.[13] After several hours and several drug injections, Jackson was still unable to fall asleep, and, according to Murray, was repeatedly asking him for "milk", a nickname for the powerful surgical general anesthetic propofol, which Jackson had used in the past as a sleep aid. At 10:40 a.m., with Jackson still not asleep, Murray relented to his requests and injected him with 25 milligrams of propofol diluted with lidocaine. With Jackson finally asleep, Murray testified that he left his bedside to go to the bathroom, and after returning two minutes later, discovered that Jackson was not breathing and had a weak pulse.[13]
Murray testified that he tried to revive Jackson for around ten minutes by performing CPR and administering flumazenil, a drug used to counteract sedative overdose, after which he called for help from staff present in the house.[15] Statements described Murray using a non-standard CPR technique on Jackson. The recording of the emergency call was released on June 26, one day after Jackson's death, and it described Murray administering CPR on a bed, not on a hard surface such as a floor which would be both standard practice and more effective.[16][17] Murray said that he placed one hand underneath Jackson and used the other for chest compression, whereas standard practice is to use both hands for compression.[18][19] Murray controversially did not call 9-1-1; he said that he was hindered because there was no landline telephone in the house and because he did not know the house's exact address.[20][21] It was later discovered that Murray had made several private calls on his cell phone in the hour after discovering Jackson's state which he did not inform law enforcement about.[13] A security guard eventually called 9-1-1 at 12:21 p.m., nearly an hour and a half after Jackson was first discovered not breathing. Paramedics reached Jackson at 12:26 p.m. and found that he was not breathing and had no pulse.[22][23]
Paramedics performed CPR for 42 minutes at the house.[24] Murray's attorney stated that Jackson had a pulse when he was taken out of the house and put in the ambulance.[18] An Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) official gave a different account, stating that paramedics found Jackson in "full cardiac arrest", and that they did not observe a change in his status en route to the hospital.[25] LAFD transported him to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.[22] The ambulance arrived at the hospital at approximately 1:14 p.m., and a team of medical personnel attempted to resuscitate him for more than an hour. They were unsuccessful, and Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. at the age of 50.[26][27][28]
Investigation
Autopsies
Jackson's corpse was flown by helicopter to the Los Angeles County Coroner's offices in Lincoln Heights, where a three-hour autopsy was performed the next day (June 26) on behalf of the Los Angeles County Coroner by the chief medical examiner Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran.[29] The Jackson family arranged for a private, second autopsy, a practice that could yield expedited, albeit limited, results.[30] After the preliminary autopsy was completed, Craig Harvey, chief investigator for the coroner's office, said there was no evidence of trauma or foul play.[31]
On August 28, 2009, the Los Angeles County coroner classified Jackson's death as a homicide, determining that Jackson died from acute propofol intoxication, exacerbated by the anxiolyticlorazepam, and less significantly midazolam, diazepam, lidocaine, and ephedrine. The coroner kept the complete toxicology report private, as requested by the police and district attorney.[2]
The autopsy report revealed that Jackson was otherwise healthy[32] for his age (age 50) and that his heart was strong; his most significant health issue was that his lungs were chronically inflamed, but this did not contribute to his death.[33] His other major organs were normal and he had no atherosclerosis except for some slight plaque accumulation in the arteries in his leg.[34][35] The Associated Press reported that his weight was within the acceptable range.[35]
On August 28, 2009, LAPD announced that the case would be referred to prosecutors.[2] Because the LAPD did not secure Jackson's home and allowed the Jackson family access to it as well before returning to remove certain items, the department raised concerns by some observers that the chain of custody had been broken.[37][38] The police maintained that they had followed protocol.[38] California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced that his office was helping the LAPD and DEA to create a statewide database of all medical doctors and prescriptions filled.[39]
The LAPD subpoenaed medical records from doctors who had treated Jackson. Police considered, but did not bring, homicide charges against those who had supplied drugs to Jackson.[40][41]
Drug-use allegations
Marc Schaffel, Jackson's former video producer, said that the singer had used propofol, alprazolam (generic name for the benzodiazepine Xanax) and sertraline (generic name for the SSRI antidepressant Zoloft).[42] Other drugs included omeprazole, hydrocodone, paroxetine, carisoprodol, and hydromorphone.[43] After his death, police found several drugs in his home, which included propofol. Some of these drugs had labels made out to fraudulent names, and others were unlabeled.[44][45] A 2004 police document prepared for the 2005 People v. Jackson child abuse trial said that Jackson was taking up to 40 alprazolam pills a night.[40] Alprazolam was not found in his bloodstream at the time of death.[3] Jackson's friend A. J. Farshchian stated that Jackson was scared of drugs.[46]
Eugene Aksenoff is a Tokyo-based physician who had treated Jackson and his children on a few occasions, and he expressed concern about Jackson's use of various drugs.[47] He said that Jackson asked for stimulants so that he could get through some demanding performances, but Aksenoff said that he refused to prescribe them. He recalled that Jackson had chronic fatigue, fever, insomnia, and other symptoms, and he took a large amount of drugs. He suspected that one of the major factors causing these symptoms was excessive use of steroids or other skin-whitening medications.[48]
His sister Janet Jackson claimed that their family tried to stage an intervention in early 2007 when Michael was living in Las Vegas.[49] She and a number of their brothers allegedly traveled to his home but were turned away by security guards who were ordered not to let them enter. He was also rumored to have refused phone calls from his mother. However, the family denied that they had tried to intervene.[50]
Of all the drugs found in Jackson's home, the one that most concerned investigators was propofol (Diprivan), a powerful anesthetic administered intravenously in hospitals to induce and maintain anesthesia during surgery.[51] Nicknamed "milk of amnesia" because of its opaque, milk-like appearance (and a play on the words "milk of magnesia"), the drug has been associated with cardiac arrest,[51] but it still may be increasingly used off-label for anxiolytic and other medically unsubstantiated purposes.[45] Several propofol bottles—both opened and not—were found in his home.[45]
On June 30, Cherilyn Lee, a nurse practitioner who had worked as Jackson's nutritionist, said that he had asked her in May to provide propofol to help him sleep, but she refused. He told her he had been given the drug before for persistent insomnia, and that a doctor had said it was safe as long as he was being monitored. Lee said she received a telephone call from an aide to Jackson on June 21 to say that Jackson was ill, although she no longer worked for him. She reported overhearing Jackson complain that one side of his body was hot, the other side cold. She advised the aide to send Jackson to a hospital; Lee thought she recognized the symptoms, and suspected that Jackson was on propofol.[52][verification needed]
Arnold Klein said that Jackson used an anesthesiologist to administer propofol to help him sleep while he was on tour in Germany. The anesthesiologist would "take him down" at night and "bring him back up" in the morning during the HIStory World Tour of 1996 and 1997.[50]
Medical professionals
The DEA focused on at least five doctors who prescribed drugs to Jackson, trying to determine whether they had had a "face to face" relationship with him and whether they had made legally required diagnoses.[45] At least nine doctors were under investigation.[53] The police wanted to question 30 doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, including Arnold Klein.[54] Klein said that he occasionally had given Jackson pethidine to sedate him, but had administered nothing stronger and that he had turned his records over to the medical examiner.[55]
Murray practiced out of the Armstrong Clinic in Houston. The clinic was raided during an investigation of Murray in July 2009.
Cardiologist Conrad Murray joined Jackson's camp in May 2009 as part of Jackson's agreement with AEG Live, the promoter of his London concerts. Murray first met Jackson in Las Vegas when he treated one of Jackson's children. AEG Live said Jackson insisted the company hire Murray to accompany him to England.[56] During Murray's trial it emerged that AEG employed Murray and that Jackson did not sign the contract for the above-cited employment either.[57]
Murray said through his attorney that he did not prescribe or administer pethidine or oxycodone to Jackson, but did not say what, if anything, he did prescribe or administer.[51] Los Angeles police said Murray spoke to officers immediately after Jackson's death, and during an extensive interview two days later. They stressed that they found "no red flag" and did not suspect foul play.[16] On June 26, police towed away a car used by Murray, stating that it might contain medication or other evidence. The police released the car five days later.[37]
Politician and ministerJesse Jackson, a friend of Michael Jackson's family, said that the family was concerned about Murray's role. "They have good reason to be ... he left the scene."[58] Over the next few weeks, law enforcement grew increasingly concerned about Murray, and on July 22 detectives searched Murray's medical office and storage unit in Houston, removing items such as a computer and two hard drives, contact lists and a hospital suspension notice.[59] On July 27, an anonymous source reported that Murray had administered propofol within 24 hours of Jackson's death.[60][61] Investigators had searched Murray's home and office in Las Vegas,[62] as well as a Las Vegas pharmacy.[63] Jackson monthly paid Murray $150,000 (equivalent to about $213,000 in 2023).[64]
On February 8, 2010, Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter by prosecutors in Los Angeles. Murray pleaded not guilty and was released after posting US$75,000 bail.[65] Shortly thereafter, the California Medical Board issued an order preventing Murray from administering heavy sedatives.[66]
On January 11, 2011, the judge from Murray's preliminary hearing determined that Murray should stand trial for involuntary manslaughter in the Jackson case. The judge also suspended Murray's license to practice medicine in California.[67]
After several delays,[68] the jury trial began on September 27, 2011.[69] On November 7, 2011, Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter[70] and he was held without bail to await sentencing.[71] On November 29, 2011, Murray received the maximum sentence of four years in prison.[72] Murray was released on October 28, 2013,[5] due to California prison overcrowding and good behavior.[73]
Michael Jackson's initial death certificate, issued pending toxicology reportsThe amendment form issued by the coroner for his death certificate, after toxicology reports became available. The cause is changed from "deferred" to "acute propofol intoxication" and the ruling of "Homicide" is added.
Stacy Brown, a biographer, said Jackson had become "very frail, totally, totally underweight", and that his family had been worried about him. Another biographer, J. Randy Taraborrelli, said Jackson had been addicted to painkillers periodically for decades.[31]Arnold Klein, Jackson's dermatologist, stated that Jackson misused prescription drugs, and that he had diagnosed him with vitiligo and lupus. However, Klein said when he saw Jackson at his office three days before his death, he "was in very good physical condition. He was dancing for my patients. He was very mentally aware when we saw him and he was in a very good mood."[55]
The Jackson family released a statement following the death:
Our beloved son, brother, uncle and father of three children has gone so unexpectedly, in such a tragic way and much too soon. It leaves us, his family, speechless and devastated to a point, where communication with the outside world seems almost impossible at times.[74]
La Toya Jackson believed her brother "was murdered for his music catalogue".[75] Shortly after Jackson's death, his family raised questions about the role of AEG Live, the This Is It concert promoter, in the last few weeks of his life.[58]Joe Jackson, their father, filed a complaint with the California Medical Board alleging that AEG Live was illegally practicing medicine by demanding that Murray get Jackson off various medications. The complaint also alleged that AEG Live failed to provide the resuscitation equipment and nurse which Murray had requested. AEG spokesman Michael Roth declined to comment on the complaint.[76]
After Murray pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge, several members of the Jackson family said they felt he deserved a more severe charge.[77] On June 25, 2010, Joe filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Murray. The lawsuit alleged that Murray repeatedly lied to cover up his use of propofol, did not keep sufficient medical records and was negligent in his use of medications on Jackson. Murray's civil attorney, Charles Peckham, denied that Murray gave Jackson anything life-threatening.[78] On August 15, 2012, Joe Jackson dropped his wrongful death lawsuit against Murray.[79]
The Jackson family praised the guilty verdict against Murray.[80] In 2017, Michael's daughter Paris Jackson stated that she was "absolutely" convinced that her father had been murdered.[81]
In 2010, Jackson's three children and his mother sued Jackson's concert promoter Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc. (AEG) and its subsidiaries and principals, alleging that AEG had negligently hired the doctor.[82][83] In 2013, following a 21-week trial in Los Angeles, the jury rendered a verdict in AEG's favor, finding that AEG had no reason to know that Murray would be "unfit or incompetent to perform the work for which he was hired" and therefore was not negligent.[84]
Jackson's last will was filed by attorney John Branca at the Los Angeles County courthouse on July 1, 2009. Signed July 7, 2002, it names Branca and accountant John McClain as executors; they were confirmed as such by a Los Angeles judge on July 6, 2009.[85] All assets are given to the (pre-existing) Michael Jackson Family Trust (amended March 22, 2002),[86] the details of which have not been made public. The Associated Press reports that, in 2007, Jackson had a net worth of $236.6 million: $567.6 million in assets, which included Neverland Ranch and his 50% share of Sony/ATV Music Publishing' catalog, and debts of $331 million.[87] The guardianship of his three children is given to his mother, Katherine, or if she is unable or unwilling, to singer Diana Ross.[88] Jackson's will allocates 20% of his fortune as well as 20% of money made after death to unspecified charities.[89]
Media reports suggested that the settlement of Jackson's estate could last many years.[90] The value of Sony/ATV Music Publishing is estimated by Ryan Schinman, chief of Platinum Rye, to be US$1.5 billion. Shinman's estimate makes Jackson's share of Sony/ATV worth $750 million, from which Jackson would have had an annual income of $80 million. In September 2016, a deal was finalized for Sony's acquisition of Jackson's share of Sony/ATV from the Jackson estate for $750 million.[91]
Public reaction
Media and Internet coverage
Wikipedia spikes at 15:00 hrs in Los Angeles, June 25.
Jackson's death was first reported by the Los Angeles-based celebrity news website TMZ. Doctors at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center pronounced Jackson dead at 2:26 p.m., and TMZ announced the death 18 minutes later.[23] The Los Angeles Times confirmed the report at 2:51 p.m. PDT (5:51 p.m. EDT).[92] The news spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down and crash from user overload. TMZ and the Los Angeles Times suffered outages.[93]Google initially believed that the millions of search requests meant their search engine was under a DDoS attack, and blocked searches related to Michael Jackson for 30 minutes. Twitter reported a crash, as did Wikipedia at 3:15 p.m. PDT (22:15 UTC).[94] The Wikimedia Foundation reported nearly a million visitors to Jackson's biography within one hour, probably the most visitors in a one-hour period to any article in Wikipedia's history up to that point.[95]AOL Instant Messenger collapsed for 40 minutes.[96] Around 15 percent of Twitter posts (5,000 tweets per minute) mentioned Jackson after the news broke,[97][98] compared to the 5 percent recalled as having mentioned the Iranian elections or the flu pandemic that had made headlines earlier in the year.[98] Overall, web traffic ranged from 11 percent to at least 20 percent higher than normal.[97][99]MTV and BET aired marathons of Jackson's music videos.[100]
Specials about Jackson aired on multiple television stations around the world. The British soap opera EastEnders added a last-minute scene to the June 26 episode, in which the character Denise Johnson discussed the news with Patrick Trueman.[101] Magazines including Time published commemorative editions.[102] A scene that had featured Jackson's sister La Toya was cut from the film Brüno out of respect toward Jackson's family.[103]
According to an analysis released by the Global Language Monitor (GLM), 72 hours after his death, Jackson became the ninth-most-covered news item in global print and electronic media. For the Internet and social media, Jackson was number two, behind the election of President Barack Obama.[104] Commentators discussed Jackson's work and his "profoundly tragic figure".[105]Le Figaro columnist Yann Moix said that although Jackson, like his moonwalk dance move, lived life in reverse, the world at his death shed "identical and universal tears".[106]
A Pew Research Center survey found that two-thirds of Americans believed the coverage of Jackson's death was excessive, while 3 percent felt it was insufficient.[107] In the UK, the BBC received over 700 complaints from viewers who thought his death dominated the news.[108] On June 29, American conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh said the coverage was a "horrible disgrace" and lent his support to activist-ministers Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who were fighting to stem the press' speculation about what caused the death.[109] Other conservatives, including commentator Bill O'Reilly[110] and Congressman Peter T. King,[111] also disapproved the receiving of the media attention about Jackson's death. Meanwhile, Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela, called the pop star's death some "lamentable news",[112] but criticized CNN for covering the death more heavily than the Honduran coup d'état.[113][112]
In 2009, Jackson's family paid social media marketing company uSocial.net to increase the numbers of followers on Jackson's Twitter profile.[114] According to the New York Daily News, uSocial was contracted to deliver 25,000 followers to the account.[115]
News of Jackson's death triggered an outpouring of grief around the world. Fans gathered outside the UCLA Medical Center, Neverland Ranch, his Holmby Hills home, the Hayvenhurst Jackson family home in Encino, the Apollo Theater in New York, and at Hitsville U.S.A., the old Motown headquarters in Detroit where Jackson's career began, now the Motown Museum. Streets around the hospital were blocked off.[116] A small crowd, including the city's mayor, gathered outside Jackson's childhood home in Gary, where the flag on city hall was flown at half-staff in his honor.[117] Fans in Hollywood initially gathered around the Walk of Fame star of another Michael Jackson, as they were unable to access Jackson's star, which had been temporarily covered by equipment in place for the Brüno film premiere.[118] Grieving fans and memorial tributes relocated from the talk radio host's star the next day.[119]
Fans visiting the makeshift memorial set up outside the Neverland Ranch entrance shortly after Jackson's death
In Japan, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Tsutomu Sato told reporters, "I feel sad as I had watched him since he was a member of Jackson Five [sic]." Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada credited him with building a generation with his music.[125] Health Minister Yōichi Masuzoe called the death an "extremely tragic loss".[126]
In the United Kingdom, Prime MinisterGordon Brown's spokesperson said: "This is very sad news for the millions of Michael Jackson fans in Britain and around the world." Conservativeopposition leaderDavid Cameron said: "I know Michael Jackson's fans in Britain and around the world will be sad today. Despite the controversies, he was a legendary entertainer."
Russian fans gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to mourn.[127] French Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand, said, "We all have a Michael Jackson within."[128]Elizabeth Taylor, a long-time friend, said that she could not imagine life without him.[129]Liza Minnelli told CBS, "When the autopsy comes, all hell's going to break loose, so thank God we're celebrating him now."[130] His sister La Toya stated that his daughter said he was being overworked. La Toya was quoted as saying, "She said, 'No, you don't understand. They kept working him and Daddy didn't want that, but they worked him constantly'. I felt so bad."[131]
Tributes
During the second leg of Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour in July 2009, she and a Jackson impersonator performed a medley of Jackson's songs while photos of Jackson's were shown on a screen behind them.
Jackson's sister La Toya released her song "Home" on July 28 as a charity single in her brother's honor. All proceeds were donated to one of Michael's favorite charities.[153]BET's annual awards show aired three days after Jackson's death, on June 28, 2009, and included a tribute to him. Host Jamie Foxx said, "We want to celebrate this black man. He belongs to us and we shared him with everybody else." The ceremony featured performances of several of Jackson's songs, including pieces from his time with The Jackson Five and those from his solo career.[154] Joe Jackson and Al Sharpton were in the audience, and Janet Jackson spoke briefly on behalf of the family. The show was the most-watched in the awards shows history.[155]
The music video for "Do the Bartman", a Simpsons song co-written by Jackson, was broadcast ahead of an episode rerun of The Simpsons on June 28. It featured a title card paying tribute to Jackson.[160] The 1991 Simpsons episode "Stark Raving Dad", which Jackson guest-starred in, was broadcast on Fox on July 5.[161] The episode had been broadcast on the Dutch Comedy Central the day after his death and was dedicated to Jackson's memory.[162] His 1978 film The Wiz (in which he co-starred alongside Diana Ross and Richard Pryor) was briefly rereleased in a rare 35mm format and was shown at the Hollywood Theater in his honor. It was also re-released a week prior to the release of Michael Jackson's This Is It in select cities. Madonna opened the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards with a speech about Michael Jackson. Janet Jackson made an appearance at the VMAs to pay a musical tribute to her brother and honor his career.[163] He was honored with a posthumous lifetime achievement award during the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on January 31, 2010.[164] Jackson was featured in the 82nd annual Academy Awards ceremony's "In Memoriam" tribute.[165]
Record sales
Jackson's record sales increased eighty-fold by June 29, according to HMV.[166] Bill Carr of Amazon said the website sold out of all Jackson and Jackson 5 CDs within minutes of the news breaking, and that demand surpassed that for Elvis Presley and John Lennon after their sudden deaths in 1977 and 1980 respectively.[167] In Japan, six of his albums made SoundScan Japan's Top 200 Albums chart,[156] and in Poland, Thriller 25 topped the national album chart and was replaced by King of Pop the following week.[168]
In Australia, 15 of his albums occupied the ARIA top 100 as of July 5, four of them in the top ten, with three occupying the top three spots. He had 34 singles in the top 100 singles chart, including four in the top ten. Album sales were 62,015 for the previous week; singles tallied 107,821 units.[169] In the second week, album sales rose from the previous week and tallied 88,650 copies. On July 12, four albums were in the top 10 with three occupying the top three spots. In New Zealand, Thriller 25 topped the chart.[170] In Germany, King of Pop topped the album chart,[171] and from June 28 to July 4, nine of his albums occupied the Top 20 of CAPIF in Argentina.[172]
In Billboard's European Top 100 Albums, he made history with eight of his albums in the top ten positions.[173] As of August 3, King of Pop has spent four weeks atop Billboard's European Top 100 Albums chart.[174]The Collection also spent two weeks atop the same chart.[175]
In the UK, on the Sunday following his death, his albums occupied 14 of the top 20 places on the Amazon.co.uk sales chart, with Off the Wall at the top. Number Ones reached the top of the UK Album Chart, and his studio albums occupied number two to number eight on the iTunes Music Store top albums. Six of his songs charted in the top 40: "Man in the Mirror" (11), "Thriller" (23), "Billie Jean" (25), "Smooth Criminal" (28)", "Beat It" (30), and "Earth Song" (38).[176] The following Sunday, 13 of Jackson's songs charted in the top 40, including "Man in the Mirror", which reached number two.[177] He broke Ruby Murray's 1955 record of five songs in the top 30.[178]The Essential Michael Jackson topped the album chart, giving Jackson a second number one album in as many weeks. He had five of the top ten albums in the album chart.[179] In third week sales, The Essential Michael Jackson retained the number one position and Jackson held three other positions within the top five.[180] By August 3, Jackson had sold 2 million records and spent six consecutive weeks atop the album chart.[174][181] He retained the top spot on the album chart for a seventh consecutive week.[182]
In the U.S., Jackson broke three chart records on the first Billboard issue date that followed his death. The entire top nine positions on Billboard'sTop Pop Catalog Albums featured titles related to him. By the third week it would be the entire top 12 positions.[183]Number Ones was the best-selling album of the week and topped the catalog chart with sales of 108,000, an increase of 2,340 percent. The Essential Michael Jackson (2) and Thriller (3) also sold over 100,000 units. The other titles on the chart are Off the Wall (4), Jackson Five's Ultimate Collection (5), Bad (6), Dangerous (7), HIStory: Past, Present and Future – Book I (8) and Jackson's Ultimate Collection (9). Collectively, his solo albums sold 422,000 copies in the week following his death, 800,000 copies in the first full week, and 1.1 million copies in the following week of his memorial service.[183] He also broke a record on the Top Digital Albums chart, with six of the top 10 slots, including the entire top four. On the Hot Digital Songs chart he placed a record of 25 songs on the 75-position list. In the U.S., Jackson became the first artist to sell over one million downloads in a week, with 2.6 million sales.[184][185]
By August 5, Jackson had sold nearly 3.8 million albums and 7.6 million tracks in the U.S. Number Ones was the best-selling album for six out of seven weeks that followed his death.[186][187] By year's end in 2009, Jackson had become the best-selling artist of the year selling 8.2 million albums in the U.S.[188] He also became the first artist in history to have four of the top 20 best-selling albums in a single year in the U.S., nearly doubling the sales of his nearest competitor.[189][190] Jackson was also the third best-selling digital artist of 2009 in the U.S., selling approximately 12.35 million units.[191]
In the 12 months that followed his death Jackson sold nine million albums in the U.S., and 35 million albums worldwide.[192] His estate also generated revenues of $1 billion.[193] In 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a $250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017 and to release seven posthumous albums of unreleased material over the decade following his death.[10][11]
A worldwide audience of an estimated 2.5 to 3 billion people saw coverage of the memorial held in the Staples Center, pictured here during the memorial service.
A private family service was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, after a public memorial at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on July 7, where Jackson had rehearsed on June 24, the day before he died. The memorial service was organized by Jackson's concert promoter, AEG Live (who also own and operate the Staples Center).[194] AEG originally planned to charge for tickets,[195] but following public pressure, AEG instead distributed the 17,500 tickets for free through an online lottery that attracted over 1.2 million applicants in 24 hours,[196] and over a half-billion views of the webpage.[197] The service was broadcast live around the world, and was believed to have been watched by more than 2.5 billion persons.[198][199]
Jackson's solid-bronze casket (which reportedly cost $25,000)[54] was placed in front of the stage. Numerous celebrity guests attended the services.[200] His brothers each wore a single, white, sparkling glove, while Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Lionel Richie, Jermaine Jackson and others sang his songs. Jackson's then 11-year-old daughter, Paris, broke down as she told the crowd, "I just want to say, ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine ... and I just want to say I love him ... so much."[201]Marlon Jackson said, "Maybe now, Michael, they will leave you alone."[202]
Jackson's funeral cost $1 million,[206][207] including $590,000 for Jackson's crypt; $11,716 for guest invitations;[206][207] $30,000 for security and luxury cars; $16,000 for the florist; and $15,000 for the funeral planner.[206] Jackson's family planned the funeral. Howard Weitzman, a lawyer for the estate executors, said that Jackson's "bigger than life" lifespan matched the lavishness of the funeral.[206][207]
Jackson is interred in the Holly Terrace section in the Great Mausoleum of Forest Lawn Memorial Park, a cemetery in Glendale, California. The mausoleum is a secure facility and is not accessible to the general public or to the media, except on an extremely limited basis. His unmarked crypt, which is partially visible at the tinted entrance of the Holly Terrace mausoleum, is covered in flowers fans leave, which are placed by security guards outside the crypt.[204] The family had considered burying Jackson at Neverland Ranch. However, some family members objected to the site, saying that the ranch had been tainted by the 2005 trial and police raids of the property.[204] Also, the owners of the ranch would have had to go through a permitting process with county and state government before establishing a cemetery at the site. In July 2010, security was increased at the mausoleum due to vandalism by fans leaving messages such as "Keep the dream alive" and "Miss you sweet angel" in permanent ink.[208]
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