Michael Jackson shows sell out

Mar 14, 2009, 5:00 GMT

Michael Jackson fans queue up for a chance to buy Michael Jackson summer concert tickets outside the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 13 March 2009. Michael Jackson concert tickets went on sale early 13 March as thousands of Jackson fans queued over night for a chance to get their hands on tickets. Pop icon Jackson will perform a number of concerts at the O2 in July. EPA/ANDY RAIN

Michael Jackson's 50-show London residency has sold out.

Around 500,000 tickets, worth between £50 and $75, went on sale at 7am yesterday morning (13.03.09) and were quickly snapped up by eager fans.

Organiser AEG Live say every night of the 'Thriller' singer's 'This Is It' tour - dubbed his last ever UK performances - were sold before mid-day.

A further 360,000 pre-sale tickets were sold earlier this week at a rate of 333-a-minute.

Thousands of fans from around the world camped outside The 02 for days to secure the first general sale tickets. Most passed the time by singing Jackson's most famous hits and chanting his name.

Others jammed phone lines and crashed the singer's official website as they scrambled to get seats.

Thousands missed out on tickets, which are already selling on the black market for up to £16,000 a pair.

Jackson - who has returned to the US for rehearsals - is reportedly "ecstatic" about the sales figures and very "excited" about performing live.

President and CEO of AEG Live Randy Phillips revealed the cash-strapped star will make between £50 and £100 million from the shows.

Phillips said: "We organised 10 shows but we we're not sure what the demand would be - but we really misjudged it. We could sell more than one million tickets. We could have kept going.

"We could have done 150 shows as people would go more than one time. Michael Jackson is fantastic. He is physically and mentally ready to get back in the game.

"I'm not going to pretend the money is not a factor, but he is really doing it for the kids - they are old enough and he is young enough to still do it the way he did before."

The 50-year-old singer will begin his eight-month residency in July.