Remember The Time (Part 5)

So Day 5 since the unfortunate demise of MJ, and people are still talking about it everywhere. It's no longer front page news, but everyday, there are still several pages and sections of the papers being devoted to the latest going-ons.

Some are talking about MJ's will (and whether he even has one), some about the custody of his children, some about father Joe Jackson's insensitivity in plugging his Blu Ray business publicly when he should be grieving, some about yesterday's BET Awards tribute to MJ and more.

In fact, there are dozens of different stories that I'm beginning to lose track of what's happening. It's just too exhausting to read it all. And that's coming from a die-hard fan like me. I guess the average Joe must be sick of all these MJ stories by now.

However, the one story that really got me interested is the possibility that MJ's rehearsals for the This Is It concerts would be released as an official live CD+DVD album. Apparently, AEG Live filmed all the rehearsals in high definition, multi-camera, so they got everything captured. While MJ doesn't give all out during the rehearsals (understandable, since there's no real audience), it is still going to be fascinating to watch these rehearsals.

In fact, there were some leaked videos of rehearsal footage from the Dangerous Tour, and it's fab. Here's one of them, Smooth Criminal:

AEG Live also released some photos taken during the rehearsals for the This Is It tour. It's great seeing MJ so happy in these pics, and totally in his element. He still got it for sure.

I hope there will be more pics and that the live album does get released. After all the preparations and hard work, the world deserves to see it, especially the 750,000 people who bought tickets. The album will go on to sell at least 10 million copies worldwide, guaranteed.

I was also reading about how MJ has impacted radio, and it's been reported that over the weekend, MJ's songs saw a massive 1,735% increase in airplay in the US. That's right, 1,735%! His 143 songs were played 67,383 times over the weekend, with Billie Jean getting the most spins - 4,540.

And that's just the US alone. I'm sure it will be the same around the world. In Singapore, all the English stations played MJ songs every hour, so the 1,735% increase is not exaggerated, given that MJ songs normally get played once a day or less.

On the iTunes chart, MJ also rules. Here's how the Top 10 currently looks like:

In the entire Top 100, MJ has 39 songs, including tracks he recorded as the Jackson 5 and USA For Africa. 39% of the charts, that's incredible!

MJ is also expected to top the Billboard Top Pop Catalog charts this week, with 3 titles vying for the top slot, as Number Ones, The Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller each sold around 100,000 copies. Billboard's rules prohibit titles that have been released for more than 18 months to chart in the Billboard Top 200 albums chart, thus MJ can only chart in the Top Pop Catalog charts.

Nevertheless, the most impressive thing is that it is projected MJ will sell even more albums than the #1 album on the Billboard 200 this week, as Black Eyed Peas is projected to sell less than 100,000 copies to claim the #1 spot. It will be the first time in history that the #1 album on the Billboard 200 sells fewer copies than the #1 album on the Top Pop Catalog charts.

In the UK, after MJ claimed the albums charts last week, it's shaping to be another battle for #1 this week. MJ is contending for not only the albums chart #1 but also the singles chart #1 with Man In The Mirror. Last week, the song reached #11. It will be pretty amazing for a 1988 song to hit #1 now, especially since it wasn't that big a hit when initially released, peaking only at #21 back then. It's my favourite MJ song, so I hope it can reach #1!

Each day brings new surprises, so I can't wait to see what other "shocking" revelations will be uncovered tomorrow. The mystery continues...