Posthumous sales of pop stars music increasingly breaking records

London: Whitney Houston’s death saw the sales of her records skyrocket, and this is being seen as recurring trend in the event of the death of a pop star.

Amy Winehouse’s album sales jumped 37-fold the day after the singer died in July. The following week she had five singles in the UK Top 40, while her second album ‘Back To Black’ claimed the No.1 spot. Four months later she topped the charts with a new album of unreleased tracks - ‘Lioness: Hidden Treasures’, the Daily Star reported. Michael Jackson’s 2009 London shows were originally planned to help him get back in control of his 300 million pound debt. But it was only after his death in June that year that the money really started pouring in for the Prince of Pop. The following week his record sales soared 40-fold and the sales spike has continued ever since. In 2010, he generated more money than any artist alive or dead by bagging 173 million pounds in record sales and radio royalties. Last year, only Irish rockers U2 managed to top the 107 million pounds his estate raked in. The second-highest earning dead celebrity last year was Elvis Presley, who died in 1977. He earned 35 million pounds from his back catalogue, visitors to Graceland and ticket sales from a tribute show in Las Vegas. ANI