Michael Jackson Foundation Statement on Thriller Album Sales
Not long ago, a writer for The New Yorker, Bill Wyman, had written a piece about the true number of Michael Jackson’s Thriller album sales. In an article titled “Did Thriller Really Sell a Hundred Million Copies?”, the writer claimed that album sales were far less than that figure. He also questioned the claim that worldwide sales of Michael Jackson’s album collection have surpassed one billion copies. The writer also mentioned the author of the book The Life of Michael Jackson, Randall Sullivan — who, too, has been targeted by harsh criticism for lying — and the more he wrote, the more he undermined the credibility of his own work.
This article was published on many English-language Michael Jackson websites, sparking a wave of protesting fans against The New Yorker. eMJey.com refused to translate and publish it because the writer’s claims were inaccurate and the piece was mixed too much with personal opinions. However, you can access the article at here.
Today we received an email from the Michael Jackson Foundation, which we read below:
“We know that the New Yorker article has stirred the sensitivity of Michael’s loyal fans. Let us emphasize once again: ‘Thriller has sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide.’ In addition, the figures and statistics related to single sales are, in principle, not traceable. Thriller, with figures beyond this, is the best-selling album in the music industry, and even the writer himself acknowledges that it is the best-selling album.
With clarity, we must say that we do not know which documents and evidence the writer relied on for this article, and we believe he has only expressed his own opinions and viewpoints, and these viewpoints are not based on any factual foundation of the legendary sales of this 30-year-old masterpiece by Michael Jackson.
- John Branca and John McClain, Michael Jackson Foundation”
(Note: eMJey.com had asked the Foundation about this same issue last winter, in this page. In response, the Foundation confirmed that the sales of Michael Jackson’s album collection have exceeded one billion copies, and as you read, the number of single sales is not included in this figure.)
Source: eMJey.com