TICKETS for Michael Jackson's shows in Britain have sold out.

Thousands of the star's fans queued through the night outside London's O2 Arena, with many more jamming phone lines in the hope of securing a ticket.

Organiser AEG Live confirmed the 50 This Is It shows sold out late on Friday morning.

Jackson, who has returned to the US for rehearsals, was said to be "ecstatic" about the way the shows had been received.

Ava Zadkhorvash and Ayesha Obi were first in the queue at The O2 Arena and secured tickets shortly after they went on sale at 7am.

The organisers said around 500,000 tickets, priced between £50 and £75, plus booking fees, had been snapped up during the morning.

About 360,000 pre-sale tickets had already been sold for the arena dates - at a rate of 333 a minute.

Shortly after the announcement of the sell-out, tickets were being offered on the online auction site eBay for up £1,500 each, with several hundred available.