Michael Jackson's This Is It concert series is one of the most important musical events of all time, one that is going to significantly rejuvenate the British economy.

That's how big he is.

50 shows. Over 23,000 people a show. All sold out. Which means over a million people will watch the King of Pop reclaim his throne.

The tickets have been a rage. Advance booking at the official site was announced and newspapers reported fans logging on at the rate of 16,000 people per second. The sellouts started happening instantly, and The Guardian reported tickets being scalped on eBay for as much as 10,000 pounds.

As Joe Cohen, chief executive of ticketing website Seatwave, told the BBC, "There's gonna be somewhere near on a billion pounds worth of economic activity brought to London through hotels, restaurants, shops, pubs, people coming to see Michael Jackson."

"It's the Michael Jackson economic stimulus package that the tax payer isn't paying a penny for."