Why Michael Jackson Does Not Appear on the Billboard Top 200 Albums and Hot 100 Charts

After a week of stories about Michael Jackson's posthumous dominance of music sales in the wake of his death, most fans may be a bit shocked to see today's Billboard Top 200 Albums and Hot 100 charts with no Michael Jackson music present. This is because rule changes in the past have disqualified older music from making it to either chart.

Billboard's Top 200 album chart formerly included the sales of any albums in the US. However, the creation of a Top Pop Catalog Albums chart in 1991 caused a change in eligibility for the Top 200. Any album that was released more than 18 months ago and has fallen outside the top half of the chart is no longer eligible to be included in the future on the Billboard Top 200. This means that none of Michael Jackson's albums currently in release qualify for this chart. However, if you turn to the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart this week, Michael Jackson occupies nine of the top 10 places. This is also the first week since the chart's creation 18 years ago, that the top album, and, actually, the top three albums, sold more than the album placing at the peak of the Top 200. Michael Jackson's Number Ones, The Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller all outsold the Black Eyed Peas chart-topping album The E.N.D..

As far as the Billboard Hot 100 chart is concerned, the creation of a Recurrents chart in 1991 means that Michael Jackson's former hits do not qualify. As a general rule, songs that have spent more than 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and have fallen out of the top half of the chart must be moved to the Recurrents chart. Michael Jackson or Jackson 5 singles hold the top 19 places on this week's Recurrents chart.

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