Nobody was prepared for Michael Jackson’s unexpected 2009 passing. The shock was palpable when it happened, and it wasn’t like anyone had written any obits.
His passing, and the outpouring of public grief, posed an unprecedented challenge for Billboard: The Billboard 200 did not include the best-selling album in the country. The reason for that was that it was a catalog album, 2003’s Number Ones.
“This week marks the first time since Nielsen SoundScan began tabulating data in 1991 that a catalog album has sold more than the No. 1 current set on the Billboard 200 albums chart,” the publication wrote at the time.
And it wasn’t even close. If Jackson’s works had been allowed to appear on the Billboard 200, they would have dominated the top three spots that week. Clearly, in this specific case, this was a problem. The magazine’s most important chart had no way to celebrate one of its most prominent artists.
Jackson’s passing turned Number Ones, a somewhat forgotten best-of collection from an era when labels were releasing chart-topping compilations from their biggest artists, into a major hit. Per the magazine, it was the fourth-biggest selling album of the entire year, according to the Top Comprehensive Albums chart. Thriller was number 16.
So, how did Billboard resolve this issue? Easy: They decided to convert the Top Comprehensive Albums chart into the Billboard 200. The move, announced in November 2009 and taking effect at the start of 2010, effectively made the most important chart into one that includes catalog items, too. Silvio Pietroluongo, the magazine’s director of charts, specifically cited Jackson’s death as a reason for this change.
“The events of 2009 and the continuing creativity in the repackaging of catalog titles have led us to conclude that the Billboard 200 would be best served presenting the true best-sellers in the country, without any catalog-related rules or stipulations, to our readers, the media, and music fans,” he said.
He added that the added impulse on the part of consumers “to impulsively purchase new or catalog titles electronically has changed music sales behavior.”
In this light, it absolutely makes sense that albums like Drake’s Take Care, Lana Del Rey’s Born To Die, and Bruno Mars’ Doo-Wops & Hooligans just have these insane, never-ending chart runs. They were some of the first big albums of this new era, so they never had to leave the charts.
The old Billboard 200 was relegated to the Top Current Albums chart, which still exists today, though is somewhat buried on Billboard’s own website. This chart is pure album sales, with no streaming included, and it tells an interesting story. On this chart, an indie rock-focused artist like Alex G ranks in the top 20, but on the Billboard 200, he can muster no better than 166.