The passing of the legendary King of Pop, Michael Jackson, on Thursday, 25 June 2009, sent shockwaves throughout the world. And as millions of fans pay tribute to the icon, the music industry is doing the same... while cashing in on the deal. Having cruised through online shopping sites and music stores, including Amazon and iTunes to local Kalahari.net, Musica and Look&Listen, I found the expected front page tributes on all but eBay. However, a click-through to the online auction site's music page hit upon numerous Jackson albums and other memorabilia, with some heavy bidding already in play. iTunes top songs this week is sporting MJ in four of its five top slots, while the Pop King dominates all five spots in the album category. Even Nokia's recently launched local music download service has a dedicated Jackson tab for direct hitters. The UK's Telegraph on Friday said that his music sales have skyrocketed, with Amazon's UK site reporting that the albums have taken 14 of the 20 places on its sales charts, while music retailer HMV has recorded a 500% rise in sales of the singer's classics. By Saturday night, the Telegraph reported that Jackson's best-of album had reached No 1 in the UK charts, with another four of his albums entering the Top 20, while 43 of the Top 200 singles feature the artist. It said that Jackon "is richer in death than he was in life, with his songs generating millions of pounds in record sales, downloads and radio royalties in just three days". It's expected that MJ's posthumous sales will "dwarf those of Elvis Presley and John Lennon". So while the world is mourning the loss of a legend, I'd like to think that, wherever he is, he'd be pleased to know that his fans are still out there, buying his albums by the ton and playing his music on repeat, and would want to tell them one last time: "I love you...!" ...As, regardless of all the years of controversy, his fans still love him.

Shan Radcliffe, Retail editor retailnews@bizcommunity.com Responses to this column welcomed in our new online editor's column archive. Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.