2009 music purchases in the U.S. were up 2.1% over 2008 figures, marking the second year in a row that sales exceeded 1.5B units sold according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Michael Jackson’s death and related events has drawn the most online buzz in Internet history. News of his death on June 25 broke daily records, capturing nearly 8 percent of all conversations on the web. Buzz surrounding Jackson’s July 7 public memorial (which drew 31.1 million TV viewers) ranks as the third most-discussed topic online ever at more than 3 percent of conversations and early data for July 8 indicates that yesterday’s traffic record may already be eclipsed by today’s ongoing discussion. The one other event to …

Updated: A memorial service held in honor of Michael Jackson drew more than 31 million television viewers in the U.S. The event was carried live from approximately 1pm ET to 4pm ET on 18 networks: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Telefutura, Telemundo, Univision, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, Headline News, BET, E!, MTV, VH1, VH1 Classic, TV Guide Network, and TV ONE. Read about the event’s effect on networks and social networks.

Undoubtedly one of the most well-known figures in the world, Michael Jackson’s death has drawn significant attention. Here …

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 …

The breaking news of Michael Jackson’s sudden death dominated the web yesterday (and today), causing spikes in traffic and overwhelming social networks such as Twitter and Facebook with bursts of information and updates from millions of users. In comparison, discussions of Jackson far exceeded those of the swine flu scare as well as the inauguration of President Obama.

Nielsen Buzzmetrics analysis shows that more than 16% of tweets over the past 24 hours reference Michael Jackson, and less than 2 percent of Tweets mention Farrah Fawcett and Iran.

A Topper of Charts …