written by Janelle Griffith
Michael Jackson's Thriller album is technically number two on this week's Billboard charts but it won't be credited as such due to a technicality.
According to New York's Daily News, even though Jackson's 25th anniversary album sold 166,000 copies this week, according to Nielsen's SoundScan, Billboard categorized the album as a catalogue- or oldies album, making it uneligible for inclusion in the Billboard 200.
Jackson's label, Sony, argues that this should not be the case because in addition to classic hits like "Billie Jean" and "Beat It," the album also contains six new songs.
One label source explains, "Michael went into the studio and recorded with Kanye West, Fergie, Akon, Will.i.Am - and there's a brand-new song from Michael, and videos. It beat Grammy winners Amy Winehouse and Herbie Hancock, with 167,000 crossing the counter. Yet for reasons unfathomable to folks in the music industry, Billboard has decided to relegate it to the catalogue chart. Catalogue makes it look like the same ol' same ol', but with a "new cover."
According to Billboard chart expert, Geoff Mayfield, "We were approached by Sony and Sony BMG to consider 'Thriller 25' as a current album. But we had to be consistent with hundreds, if not thousands, of reissues that have come to the market. There have actually been new issues of classic albums that include even more new material. We didn't just make the decision on our own. We contacted major retailers [like Wal-Mart and Best Buy], and that was the consensus."
Still Mayfield adds that Jackson should find comfort in knowing, "It's the largest sum for an album on the catalogue chart to be sold in 10 years."