Jackson albums take top 9 sales spots

LOS ANGELES, July 1 (UPI) -- Michael Jackson albums took the top nine spots on Billboard magazine's Top Pop Catalog Albums chart for the week ending June 28, the U.S. magazine says.

The record industry publication reported Tuesday Jackson's fans snapped up 415,000 copies of his solo albums last week, spurred by news of the music superstar's Thursday death, up from 10,000 in the preceding week. Of the sales, 58 percent were digital downloads, Billboard said.

Eight of the nine albums were solo works, led by "Number Ones," which fittingly was No. 1 with 108,000 sold, followed by "The Essential Michael Jackson" (102,000 copies sold) and "Thriller" (101,000).

Also making the pop catalog album chart was Jackson's classic 1979 studio album "Off the Wall" at No. 4 (33,000 copies sold); the Jackson 5's "The Ultimate Collection" (18,000); 1987's "Bad" (17,000); 1991's "Dangerous" (14,000); the 2001 compilation "Greatest Hits: HIStory -- Volume 1" (12,000); and the 2004 box set "The Ultimate Collection" (11,000).

Billboard said the 415,000 albums sold in the week were nearly 40 percent more than what Michael Jackson's catalog had sold the entire year up through June 21.