Estate of Michael Jackson Queries Eagles Greatest vs Thriller sales

The Estate of Michael Jackson has questioned the sudden jump in Eagles ‘Their Greatest Hits’ sales which has pushed the Eagles title up “overnight” by 9 million sales.

The additional 9,000,000 sales were added to the Eagles total following an audit dating back to 1976, the year the album was released. The Jackson estate is calling bullshit on the result but the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the organisation that hands out Platinum Awards, is accepting the result.

‘Their Greatest Hits’ and ‘Thriller’ have been in a constant race for best selling album of all-time in the USA. Billboard reports that they have traded the lead five times over the years.

RIAA has accepted findings that between 2006 and 2018, an additional 9,000,000 sales have been discovered. That in itself is extraordinary because that would mean that the money from those 9,000,000 extra sales would also now need to be paid out.

Sony’s Rob Stringer said in a statement to Billboard that he is “surprised and concerned” with the result and is asking for transparency in the process.

Warner Music Group’s review of Eagles sales was described as “forensic” dating back to 1976 and reviewing historic documents in underground vaults to establish the new figure. Again, this seems like an incredibly strange exercise for a record label that stands to be out of pocket by 10s of millions of dollars for the exercise.

John Branca from the Jackson estate told Billboard that he finds the exercise unbelievable and suggests if Eagles data is so wrong, then how many other releases have incorrect data. That means many other artists may have incorrect royalties.