While Lady Gaga charmed us with bad romance and Drake told us that we were the best he ever had, one star above all ruled pop in 2009: Michael Jackson.

In fact, not since the height of his "Thriller" heyday has the self-styled King of Pop enjoyed such appeal.

In death, Jackson did what he couldn't do with two decades of multi-million dollar videos and promotional budgets that equalled the gross domestic product of a small country: reclaim his crown.

While our culture celebrates the success of youth and derides the failure of decline, one thing we find irresistible is tragedy. In Jackson's case, 2009 had all three elements in spades.

The year began with Jackson's bizarre announcement in March that he would play a series of comeback concerts at London's cavernous O2 arena.

While his hardcore fan base celebrated, the rest of us scratched our heads: Why now? From what rock did Jackson crawl out from under? Hadn't he been in Brunei partying with the Sultan? Could he still sing? Why did he keep saying "this is it?"

The prospects weren't good. At the press conference, Jackson appeared painfully thin and his face -- deformed by years of plastic surgery -- was even more bizarre looking than we'd remembered.

He also didn't say much except to reiterate the title of the comeback: "This is it. I just want to say these will be my final show performances in London. This is it, when I say this is it, this is it," Jackson told a smattering of press and fans in London.

"I'll be performing the songs my fans want to hear -- this is it. This is really it. This is the final curtain call. I'll see you in July."

Questions

When the initial 10-date run was expanded to 50, even Jackson's most ardent supporters questioned the move. Given the singer's health, could he pull it off?

As it turns out, Jackson couldn't pull it off.

In the aftermath of his death on June 25, the pop culture media machine went completely bonkers: CNN was turned into a 24-hour news service for the King of Pop, the Billboard chart read like a collection of the singer's greatest hits and music fans of all generations dug out their Jackson tapes, CDs and LPs.

Meanwhile, there were lurid reports that the singer had turned into a drug-crazed zombie in his final days, taking a daily cocktail of uppers and downers that would have stopped a horse.

Investigators combing through his rented mansion in Los Angeles found propofol, a hypnotic agent which is delivered intravenously and is rarely found outside of operating rooms.

At the height of the speculation over his death, the Los Angeles Police Department announced that it had opened a homicide investigation, and Jackson's former physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was at the centre of it.

Still, at second-hand record shops, worn copies of "Thriller" quadrupled in price and fans around the world snatched up special MJ magazine editions.

Other merch enjoyed a similar bump, and in the week ending July 5, Jackson's catalog had moved 800,000 units in the U.S. in only seven days. Not bad for a guy whose last collection of new music was panned as a failure back in 2001.

While the freak show that was Jackson's life had finally come to a close, the public mourning continued unabated.

With the charade over, it finally become okay to embrace the man and his music again.

There was another cataclysmic pop culture moment when Jackson's three children -- long-shielded from the prying eyes of the tabloids -- made their public debut at a hastily-organized tribute concert at the Los Angeles arena where Jackson had been rehearsing.

And when 11-year-old daughter Paris Jackson tearfully spoke at the end of the concert at the Staples Center, the world shed a tear with her.

"Ever since I was born, daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine and I just want to say I love him so much," Paris said as she was clutched by Jackson's family.

This Is It?

Just as the spectacle around the death began to die down, Kenny Ortega, the man who was behind the scrapped comeback shows, announced that rehearsal footage was being edited for a theatrical release.

Aptly titled "This Is It," skeptics cringed at the thought of sitting through 111 minutes of second-hand footage of a middle-aged pop star warming up for concerts that never happened.

After all, reports had suggested that Jackson's once-magical singing voice had been crippled by lung problems before his death. We had also read that Jackson's inimitable dance moves had been halted thanks to years of malnutrition, atrophy and drug abuse.

But through it all, "This Is It" silenced its critics. Not only did the film do well at the box office, earning more than $70 million in the U.S. alone, but it showed that the performer still had some juice left when he died.

The film was raw but it was also entertaining. Throughout dance sequences and duets, Jackson commanded both the screen and his accomplished band, telling them to play his hits like he had written them years before.

The movie was also a boon for concert promoter AEG Live, who lost millions when Jackson died.

As the New Year approached, however, pop culture was still clamouring to find meaning in Jackson's life and death: Was this the price of fame? Did Jackson squander his own talent? Is his life a cautionary tale, or one of tragic victory?

While the answers aren't clear, as a new generation of musicians and performers clamour for the top of the pop heap, it's unlikely that any of them will reach the standards Jackson set at his peak.

The king is dead, long live the King of Pop.