Michael Album Sales Plan

In the United States, the first album of the King of Pop’s previously unreleased songs after his death, titled "Michael," will be shipped to stores in the first wave of 900,000 copies. Sony expects to sell 340,000 CD copies and 60,000 digital copies of the album in the first week. These numbers are similar to the sales of the This Is It album in its first week in 2009. Of course, that album consisted of previously released songs and benefited from the This Is It film’s support in theaters. Second-week sales for the Michael album are estimated at 280,000 CD copies. Online sales are also expected to face a 8 to 15 percent drop. However, this estimate is better than the online sales of This Is It, which accounted for 5.6% of total sales in its first week. Market experts say the controversy and confusion that Breaking News caused will strengthen public interest and awareness toward buying the album. Others are worried about the negative impact of this situation. One of these experts called the choice of Breaking News a good pick for boosting album sales. Many say Sony’s sales executives have told them that choosing Breaking News as the first single is due to the song’s lyrics, which seem to promise fresh news. In this song, Michael sings that the media treated him badly, but that he has now returned. The album’s first single, titled Hold My Hand, will be released on the official Michael website on Monday this week, and two weeks later it will be in the UK market. Of course, online sales of the song will begin on Monday on sites such as iTunes. Source: eMJey / billboard.com