People are focused about sales but MJ has already established himself as the greatest artist of all time, music sadly is not about quality anymore, its about promotion.
In Australia our X-Factor winner (Alytin Childs) debuted No.4 while MJ debuted No.10 in the same week. Childs sold 30,000 while MJ sold 14,000. The thing is though, Childs album was primarily all his covers from the show and his debut song (which one of the judges openly admitted was shit). How much thought did he put into his record? The songs were all covers, his first single was written for him, he sang each song the same way we've heard it. That isn't an ARTist. Rihanna has all his music written for her, that's not an artist. Susan Boyle, Justin Bieber...
People bought it though, because he was on the highest rated program for around 10 weeks, no one even knew MJ's album came out, thats how pathetic promotion was down here.
Also, Kanye's album didn't even outsell Boyle's or Swifts and music critics (and I) agree its probably the best album of the year, some phenomenal songs on it.
Bottom line is, MJ gave everyone everything he had, the only people who can make a quick buck are those that can be backed by heavy television promotion. Music is not about the art anymore, no one cares how good music is, or how much of it is YOURS (how much thought the actual artist put into their art), if you are popular and on TV you'll be listened too (Justin Bieber, Susan Boyle, Rihanna)
It's a sad state for music and it's only saviour is dead. Kudos to Eminem, Kanye, Swift, Gaga and the old rock bands for trying though..
