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 and a Major TV Draw

That Jackson’s passing dominated the web is no surprise, as he has been a major media draw for decades. According to Billboard, over the course of his solo career, Jackson charted 47 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, 13 of which went to No. 1. As part of the Jackson 5, he earned an additional four No. 1 Hot 100 hits.In addition to his unparalleled dominance on the Billboard music charts with albums like Thriller, his past television appearances have attracted millions of curious viewers eager to see more of the reclusive, yet ubiquitous, star.

According to a new study by Nielsen PreView, not surprisingly, album sales and digital tracks do go up following a Super Bowl half-time performance. However, not all artist sales are equal and not all markets respond similarly.

The study, which analyzed music sales of the past four Super Bowl half-time acts, reveals that sales have risen as much as 300+%, particularly when the artist’s performance is well-received. However, according to the research, much of this growth can be attributed to a desire for consumers to reacquaint themselves with a star. In fact, markets with the weakest artist sales prior to the Super Bowl experienced the greatest lifts in sales following the Super Bowl.

Read the full study.