Michael Jackson radio airplay soars after death

By Silvio Pietroluongo

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Michael Jackson tunes blanketed the airwaves coast-to-coast immediately after his death on Thursday, and continued throughout the weekend.

According to research provided by Nielsen BDS of monitored airplay from over 1,600 terrestrial and satellite radio stations, 143 of Jackson's recordings totaled 67,383 plays for the week ending June 28, up 1,735% from the previous week's sum of 3,671 plays.

After having just one song, "Rock With You," post more than 500 plays in the week prior to his death, 22 of Jackson's tracks eclipsed 1,000 plays this past week, led by his biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit, "Billie Jean" (4,500 spins). That total places the track at No. 51 among all current or recurrent titles for the week.

Here is a list of the 10 most-played Michael Jackson songs for the week of June 22 to June 28, with spins for the previous week in parentheses.

1) Billie Jean -- 4,540 (318)

2) Thriller -- 3,570 (39)

3) Rock With You -- 3,546 (526)

4) Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough -- 3,135 (419)

5) P.Y.T. -- 2,986 (291)

6) Beat It -- 2,852 (139)

7) Man In The Mirror -- 2,827 (27)

8) Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' -- 2,493 (199)

9) The Way You Make Me Feel -- 2,387 (171)

10) Human Nature -- 2,175 (124).

(Editing by Dean Gooodman at Reuters)