Prior to his sudden death 10 days ago, Michael Jackson’s value as a buzzable star had been relatively dim.  Although he was about to embark on a series of 50 concerts in London later this month, the conversation about Jackson was limited to his fans.  But now, Jackson is once again the King… of internet buzz.  Conversations around Jackson and his death dominated the web, dwarfing other recent buzz surrounding the Obama inauguration, the swine flu scare, other celebrity passings, the iPhone, and the Iranian election. (click image to enlarge)

While the …

Artists such as Lil Wayne, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Coldplay and Flo Rida helped consumers make more decisions to buy music than ever for the fourth year in a row according to Nielsen SoundScan. While total album sales slipped 14% from 500.5 to 428.4M in 2008, sales of digital albums were up 32% from 50M to 65.8M in 2008. Sales of individual digital tracks also grew, soaring 27% over the previous year’s sales. Ironically, in the new digital age, sales of vinyl LPs were at an all-time high (1.88M).
More SoundScan data …

Billboard executive editor Bill Werde has been named the magazine’s new editorial director.
In his new role, Werde will oversee the brand’s staff of editors and reporters worldwide.  He replaces Tamara Conniff, who is leaving to become president of music services for Irving Azoff’s Front Line Management Group.
Before joining Billboard in 2005 as senior news editor, Werde was an associate editor at Rolling Stone.  He was promoted to deputy editor of Billboard in 2006, before being promoted to executive editor last year.
Full disclosure: Billboard is owned by Nielsen.