Michael Jackson by the Numbers
Breaking down a career
Monday, Jul 20, 2009 | Updated 4:05 PM EST
AP
Mr. Record Breaker
Michael Jackson enjoyed a career of enormous proportions. Some of the numbers that made him worthy of those giant statues that showed up across Europe:
109 million copies of "Thriller" reportedly sold worldwide
95 million dollars Jackson earned when he sold the music publishing rights to 250 Beatles songs to Sony in 1995
80 consecutive weeks "Thriller" appeared on Billboard’s top 200 list
47.5 million dollars he paid to purchase the Beatles back catalog in 1985
47 million people watching when he debuted the moonwalk on live television
35 countries visited on his 1996-1997 HIStory world tour
22 million dollars paid by Jackson to a family accusing the artist of sexual abuse in 1994
20 million copies of “We Are The World,” which Jackson co-wrote with Lionel Richie
13 number-one singles
2 times inducted into Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame
