In his prime, Jackson was an unstoppable pop juggernaut, possessed of all the tools to dominate the charts seemingly at will: an instantly identifiable voice, eye-popping dance moves, stunning musical versatility, and loads of sheer star power. Thriller became the biggest-selling album of all time, and he was the first black artist to find stardom on MTV, breaking down innumerable boundaries both for his race and for music video as an art form.

In 1987 just as we were about to launch ourselves on the collectors of the world with our very first advert in Record Collector magazine, Michael Jackson was due to issue his much anticipated follow up to Thriller.

With the industry expecting another major hit, Jackson's first album, in five years, 'Bad' finally hit the shelves. Bad had lower sales than Thriller, but was still a substantial commercial success. In the US, it spawned seven hit singles, five of which ("I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror" and "Dirty Diana") reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, more than any other album.

As of 2008, the album sold 30 million copies worldwide, including eight million shipments in the US.

The Bad World Tour which followed began on September 12, 1987, and finished on January 14, 1989. In Japan alone, the tour had 14 sell-outs and drew 570,000 people, nearly tripling the previous record of 200,000 in a single tour. Jackson broke a Guinness World Record when 504,000 people attended seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium. He performed a total of 123 concerts to a total audience of 4.4 million people, and gained a further Guinness World Record when the tour grossed him $125 million.

In the two decades that have followed, Michael Jackson has remained one of our top selling artists even through the turmoil of his arrest and court appearances his fans and collectors never lost faith and the desire to collect anything and anything with his name on.

Jackson had a notable impact on music and culture throughout the world. He broke down racial barriers, transformed the art of the music video and paved the way for modern pop music in his own country. Jackson's work, distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced nearly every facet of hip hop, pop and R&B. For much of his career, he had an "unparalleled" level of worldwide influence over the younger generation through his musical and humanitarian contributions.

Throughout his career he received numerous honours and awards, including the World Music Awards' Best-Selling Pop Male Artist of the Millennium, the American Music Award's Artist of the Century Award and the Bambi Pop Artist of the Millennium Award. He was a double-inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in 2001. Jackson was also an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. His awards include multiple Guinness World Records (eight in 2006 alone), 13 Grammy Awards, 13 number one singles in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era—and the sale of over 750 million albums worldwide, making him the world's best selling male pop artist.

In the mid-1980s, Time described Jackson as "the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley". By 1990, Vanity Fair had already cited Jackson as the most popular artist in the history of show business. Daily Telegraph writer Tom Utley called him an "extremely important figure in the history of popular culture" and a "genius".

His total lifetime earnings from royalties on his solo recordings and music videos, revenue from concerts and endorsements have been estimated at $500 million; some analysts have speculated that his music catalogue holdings could be worth billions of dollars. Cited as one of the world's most famous men, Jackson's highly publicized personal life, coupled with his successful career, made him a part of popular culture for almost four decades.

The music, the legend and the mystery will live on for generations to come. The world has lost a true genius.

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