Michael Jackson has outsold John Lennon and Elvis Presley in the week after their deaths, according to the UK’s largest music retailer, HMV Group.

Sales surged 80-fold the day after the 50-year-old singer died as fans across the UK, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore snapped up his Number Ones album, featuring hits such as “Billie Jean” and “Smooth Criminal.”

The increase in sales was greater than that which followed the deaths of Presley in 1977 and Lennon in 1980, HMV chief executive officer Simon Fox says.

He may have been the King of Pop but when it came to money Michael Jackson was the King of the Dunces.

He recorded the best selling album in history, could earn $US50 million a year, and was reportedly worth as much as $US750 million.

It’s a certified comeback: Jacko albums take seven of the top 10 slots on iTunes’ download chart, and 10 of the top 10 on Amazon’s CD sales chart.

It’s been quite some time since Michael Jackson, whose album Thriller sold 60 million copies during the 1980s, featured at the top of any chart.

But death, it seems, is the ultimate way to overcome an image problem.