In the same vein as with Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the demand for Jackson's work has become so high that stores are selling out and forming waiting lists.
 
Music outlets like Best Buy are reporting they are completely out of Michael Jackson albums, while Amazon.com says their supply of the 25th anniversary edition of Thriller has run dry.
 
"This is simply unprecedented," said Bill Carr, vice president of music and video at Amazon.

"We've seen the death of Johnny Cash and Frank Sinatra and many other artists, but none of them compare to what we're witnessing today," he continued. "In the last 24 hours, we've actually sold more Michael Jackson albums in our MP3 and CD stores than we have in the 11 years since the launch of our music business."

- By Erin T. McMillon