Michael Jackson's album soars to the top of charts - 'Dangerous' and other albums

Megastar Michael Jackson's high-profile television appearances capped off by his recent interview with Oprah Winfrey have boosted his career, sending sales soaring for his 14-month-old Dangerous album.

Jackson fans snapped up 60,000 copies of Dangerous in one week at Jet press time, compared with 8,000 the week of Jan. 10-17.

Dangerous which debuted at No. 1 on Dec. 14, 1991, also is leaping back up the Billboard 200 in its 63rd week. After bottoming out at No. 149 last November, the album reached No. 26 on Billboard's chart at Jet press time.

"I can't remember an album that opened that big and staged this sort of resurgence this late in its shelf life," said Geoff Mayfield, who manages the Billboard 200.

To date, Dangerous has sold more than four million copies in the U.S. Jackson's other albums are also getting a boost. Thriller is moving up a special charts for older albums, and even Jackson's old Motown albums are doing better, Mayfield said.

The sales surge is attributed to Jackson's media blitz this year, including TV appearances at the NAACP's 25th Annual Image Awards, President Clinton's inauguration, American Music Awards and the Super Bowl half-time show. Jackson also attracted attention when his lawyer held a news conference to deny rumors the entertainer hired a White boy to portray him in a Pepsi commercial, and when Jackson appeared at a news conference to unveil his Heal L.A. Program for riot-torn Los Angeles.

The biggest event was the Feb. 10 prime-time live interview with Winfrey on ABC, which was seen by 90 million people around the world (Jet, March 1).

Lee Solters, Jackson's publicist, said the pop star's recent appearances amounted to "just a happy coincidence," and weren't part of a campaign to boost Jackson's record sales.

We did not set the inauguration date. We didn't set the Super Bowl date. We did not set the NAACP (date). We did not set the American Music Awards date," said Solters. "It happened that he was in town, not on the road and not recording an album."