Michael Jackson‘s posthumous new album, Michael, was released December 13 and has already sold 228,000 copies in the U.S. and hundreds of thousands more overseas.
In addition to the purchased units, another 3 million copies were shipped abroad for sale so the numbers should pick up in the upcoming weeks.
While the numbers aren’t earth shattering, they’re still pretty impressive for any new release. Compare them to the sales for the album released by Crystal Bowersox during the same week and you get a better sense for this posthumous accomplishment.
Michael debuted at #3 in the U.S. It came behind Taylor Swift’s Speak Now, (259,000) and Susan Boyle’s The Gift (254,000).
The album did hit #1 in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. It also hit was #3 and #4 in Japan and the UK, respectively.