The failure behind the success of Invincible.

《Invincible has topped the album charts in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, China, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Turkey and, of course, Britain and the United States. The latest sales volume is around 12 million. Although the results are acceptable, it is really disappointing according to Michael Jackson's standards. Compared with his previous record-breaking albums, it is no exaggeration to say that Invincible is at least a failure in sales. The reasons for its failure are summarized as follows:

By the end of 21, the album sold 5.4 million (the 11th best-selling album in 21), which is not bad considering that it has only been sold for two months. But HIStory and Dangerous can sell more in the same time period. However, until the first half of 22, the sales momentum of the album in the United States and France did exceed the "HIStory" of that year. The album was a great success in France. It stayed in the top 1 for 3 weeks and remained in the top 1 for 2 months, so the local sales of the album may have reached 1 million. The results of the album in the United States were also quite good at first. But to many people's surprise, although the album broke through the 1 million mark in only one month, it fell out of the 2 th album list in mid-22 because of no publicity and no single release. In addition, the album is in R&; B album list occupied the champion for 4 weeks and stayed in the top 1 for 14 weeks.

everything shows that the album started well and steadily, but it ended short-lived simply because Sony Music didn't do any publicity activities and missed the opportunity to promote the hit single. Originally, some people hoped that the single "Cry" could help the album return to the charts during Christmas 21. But in the end, Cry failed in the singles list. In the United States, the second single "Butterflies" has been successful in extending the sales life of the album. However, the positive significance of the song in extending the sales life of the album was weakened because it was not released as a commercial single. Unless "Unbreakable" or another single is released, it is impossible for the album to have any tendency to rush back to the charts. Documentaries and interviews in early 23 had prompted Michael's album to climb back to the charts all over the world, but the impact on Invincible was minimal. The main reason is that Invincible is not well-known.

The promotion of album and single was officially stopped in 22 when the contradiction between Michael Jackson and Sony Music became acute and it was possible to leave Sony. Although the release of "Unbreakable" and "Whatever Happens" plays an extremely important role in the long-term sales plan of the album, the possibility of their release as commercial singles is almost zero at this time. In the United States, all single release plans have been cancelled, including "Butterflies", which is being broadcasted on the radio. Subsequently, the album basically fell out of the major charts. Only in 23, because of an interview documentary of Martin Bashir, "Living with Michael Jackson", the album briefly returned to some charts, such as the British charts. However, because Martin Bashir's documentary did not truly and objectively reflect michael jackson's real life, another interview, Approaching Michael Jackson, was broadcast to counter the documentary.

The album originally had a large number of songs with the potential to become super hot tracks. But Sony Music did everything it could to stop this from happening. All the albums released by Michael Jackson in the past have long-lasting sales vitality for two years because of the backing of a large number of single releases and the strong publicity of the tour. But Invincible has nothing. Fans later set off a protest against Sony, and michael jackson was also involved, but it didn't make Sony change his mind.

Sony then moved on, putting "You Rock My World" and "Break of Dawn" from Invisible on the newly selected "Number Ones", which sold three times as much as Invisible in six weeks, although Invisible still sold more than Number Ones in other countries, especially the United States.