July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Michael Jackson had the three best- selling albums in the U.S. last week as sales surged following the singer’s death, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

“Number Ones” and “Essential Michael Jackson” sold 108,000 and 102,000 copies in the week ended June 28, the New York-based researcher said today in a statement. “Thriller” sold 101,000 copies. All three are on Sony Corp. labels.

Jackson’s album sales jumped 40-fold to 422,000 last week, compared with 10,000 in the week ended June 21, Nielsen SoundScan said. The sales will benefit Jackson’s estate because he had one of the industry’s richest recording contracts, Aram Sinnreich, a music industry consultant with Radar Research, said in an interview.

“That was one of the sweetheart deals of the 1980s,” Sinnreich said. “Jackson was a very shrewd businessman and made a bulk of his money from intelligent dealmaking.”

The accord with Sony was negotiated by attorney John Branca, Time magazine reported in 1984. Branca was named as co- executor of Jackson’s will in a Los Angeles court filing today.

Jackson has sold more than 22 million albums since 1991 and more than 10 million digital tracks since 2004, according to Nielsen SoundScan. “Thriller,” released in 1982, is the second best-selling album of all time behind The Eagles’ “Greatest Hits 1971-1975,” according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

Digital Age

Jackson, who died on June 25 at the age of 50, was preparing to perform 50 sold-out shows in London, his first concerts in more than a decade.

More than 55 percent of the Jackson’s album sales last week were digital downloads. He had 36 songs in the top 200 Digital Song Chart, the researcher said. More than 2.95 million digital tracks were sold in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Last week, Jackson held eight of the top 10 positions on Nielsen SoundScan’s catalog chart, which lists sales of albums released at least 18 months ago.

Sony’s U.S. traded shares rose 13 cents to $25.99 at 3:30 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Tokyo-based Sony had gained 18 percent this year before today.

To contact the reporters on this story: Adam Satariano in San Francisco at asatariano1@bloomberg.netJames Callan in New York at jcallan2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 1, 2009 15:34 EDT