Michael Jackson’s new album becomes #1 worldwide

theboombox.com writes: A year and a half after his death, the immortal King of Pop proves his immortality. This week, the King of Pop made his title meaningful with his new album. Official sources say that Michael Jackson’s new album sold 3 million copies in its first week of release across 31 countries worldwide and became number one globally. In the United States, the album was number 3 on the Billboard chart with sales of 228,000 copies in the week ending December 19. Sony says the album’s sales ranking in the UK (number 4), Germany (number 1), France (number 4), Italy (number 1), Spain, Denmark (number 4), Portugal, the Netherlands (number 1), Poland, Russia, Sweden (number 1), Belgium (number 2), the Czech Republic, Canada (number 2), Korea, Japan (number 3), and the Middle East has been certified gold and platinum. Platinum rankings in different countries vary. An artist reaches platinum status with one million album sales in the United States. In Poland, this number is 30,000 copies; in Russia, 50,000 copies; and in Italy, 60,000 copies. The album reached gold status in 17 countries: Japan, China, Australia, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, New Zealand, India, the Philippines, and Taiwan. In Germany, with 85,000 copies sold, Michael’s album broke that country’s record for first-week sales. The album’s sales in the UK during the same period were 113,000 copies, which is the highest sales for the King of Pop in that region since 1991 and the album Dangerous. Source: eMJey / theboombox.com / Reuters