andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

What better way to honor the prince?

“Michael Jackson’s This Is It” made motion picture history as the highest grossing concert film of all time. That’s not all. The two-disc companion to the movie released by Sony Music’s Epic Records makes its first week debut in the #1 spot on Canada’s Nielsen SoundScan Top 200 album chart, the U.S. Billboard Top 200 chart, as well as the Soundtrack album chart in both countries.

Sales totaled 44,441 in Canada and 373,100 units in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, and this figure does not include significant sales from non-traditional retailers. In Canada, “This Is It” is Jackson’s first number one album since the establishment of SoundScan in 1997. With over 40,000 in first week sales, the album claims the third best sales week of 2009, trailing only behind U2 and Eminem’s releases. It’s no surprise that “This Is It” also claimed the #1 spot in 15 other countries, including Japan, France, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Turkey, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the Middle East and Colombia. It was also top-3 in the UK, Australia, Argentina, Austra, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and Spain. Furthermore, a simultaneous #1 album and #1 documentary film as not happened since 1971 when the Rolling Stones did it with the album “Sticky Fingers” and movie “Gimme Shelter.”

Michael Jackson albums now occupy the top five spots of Billboard catalog album chart at #1, #3 and #4; his Number Ones album is this year’s best-selling overall album year to date. Michael Jackson’s accomplishments continue in Canada with eleven albums charting in Nielsen SoundScan’s Top Catalogue Albums including Thriller (Remastered), Thriller 25^th Anniversary Edition, Essential Michael Jackson, and Number Ones. Throughout his career, Michael Jackson has spent a total of 51 weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart. Only The Beatles and Elvis Presley have spent more weeks at the top.

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Didn’t Beyoncé look hot in the video for “If I Were A Boy”? Wasn’t it a great song? It must be considering it has over 50,000,000 plays on YouTube alone. Well andPOP is giving away the same dress she wore in the video (keep in mind it’s a size small)! All you need to do to enter is to complete the form below and answer the trivia question.

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A new Michael Jackson song called, “This Is It,” will be released on Oct. 12, according to The Globe and Mail. The single, sure to give thirsty Jackson-lovers a much-needed quench, will hit airwaves two weeks before Jackson’s label, Sony Music’s Columbia/Epic Label Group, releases a two-disc album of the same name. The “This Is It” album is due out internationally on Oct. 26 and in North America on Oct. 27.

The much-hyped Jackson movie, also entitled, “This Is It,” is set for a simultaneous global release of Oct. 28. The $60 million (U.S.) movie deal, between Jackson’s estate and concert promoter AEG Live and Sony Pictures, is based on footage from Jackson’s final concert rehearsals in London. Before his untimely death, Jackson was scheduled to play a set of 50 sold-out shows in the city. The tour, said to be his comeback, proved that the world is still in love with the King of Pop.

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It looks as though the King of Pop will live on, not just in spirit, but in a documentary entitled “Michael Jackson’s This Is It.” Less than a week after the trailer for the eagerly anticipated production debuted during the VMAs, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has approved a deal to release a soundtrack to the film.

According to the LA Times, Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff approved a deal on Thursday afternoon that gives Jackson’s longtime label home, Sony Music Entertainment, permission to release a CD to accompany the film, which chronicles Jackson’s rehearsals for what was to be his comeback residency at the O2 arena in London.

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