To the original poster, I think if you thought of it like the box office ticket sales of a movie on the first weekend of its release and the following weeks of it staying on top at #1 or in the Top 5, then you'd guess that was a fantastic movie and maybe you should be thinking about seeing it for yourself while it's still at the theater.
Well, the same almost goes for records, with a few major differences...a CD can be #1 for a longer time than a movie, though the movie makes its money much quicker because of the short timespan it usually stays in the theater.
A movie may not be that GOOD, but the advertised promotion puts it up there for the anticipation of it being GREAT and everybody wants to see it...for the first weekend...then it's on to the next blockbuster that's coming out the next weekend.
But for a CD, the importance of it selling a lot of units is how GREAT it is and how much the public is invested in the artist...the artist of discussion, Michael Jackson. So when you look at it like that, selling a huge number of CDs means the public could buy it up for the simple curiosity of what it sounds like or the public could buy it up because it sounds GREAT and it means more to the buyer than just buying it out of curiosity.
It's the making of something that's loved and talked about and everybody wants it, got to have it and can't get enough of it.
So how much it sells can be looked at in different ways but it's boiled down to the love of the product...that product being Michael's talent and hard work being given it's props for the major accomplishment and consumer satisfaction.
I'd bet that most people who go the movies on the first day to see a suspected blockbuster more than not come out feeling like they wasted their money, but that can only be judged by the second week totals...that may undoubtedly drop miserably, but that movie made millions because of the anticipation of the movie goer thinking it's a hit.
What we as fans love to see for Michael, is that the sells don't drop miserably the second week because we want the CD to remain on top and to remain on the top the sells have to be HOT, HOTTER and HOTTEST of anything else on the shelves!
Oh yeah...We Love Him, and like it's been said...For the Bragging.
.