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The Big News: Four new releases stormed the top of the charts, but the King of Pop outsold them all — again — as sales of Michael Jackson’s catalog topped over 800,000 copies in the first full week since the singer’s death. Leading the charge was Jackson’s Number Ones, selling 339,000 copies to rank Number One on the Top Albums chart (Jackson’s discography is ineligible for the Top 200 chart because the releases are older than 18 months). Thriller came in at Number Two with 187,000 copies. Both albums sold more than the week’s Top 200 champ the Now 31 compilation, which sold 169,000 units.

Other members of the over 100K club this week include Brad Paisley’s American Saturday Night (Number Two on Top 200, Four on Top Albums) with 129,000 copies, the Essential Michael Jackson collection at Number Five on the Top Albums list thanks to 125,000 copies and Rob Thomas’ Cradlesong, which sold 121,000 copies to place Number Three on the Top 200. Jackson also grabbed all of the Top 10 spots on the Top Catalog Albums chart. Amazingly, roughly 82 percent of Jackson’s album sales have come from CD purchases and not digital outlets, Billboard reports.

Debuts: Jackson’s chart reign almost overshadows the stellar debut of Wilco’s Wilco (The Album), which tied the debut of 2007’s Sky Blue Sky by bowing in at Number Four, selling 98,000 copies in the process. A pair of self-titled albums entered the charts at Six and Seven as Jeremih and Killswitch Engage made the cut with their eponymous releases. Other notables include Moby’s Wait For Me at 22, Levon Helm’s Electric Dirt at 36 and the Wu-Tang Clan project Chamber Music at 49.

Last Week’s Heroes: Michael Jackson’s increased sales kept him in the game while the rest of last week’s Top 10 took a tumble. Regina Spektor’s Far, a shocker in the Number Three spot seven days ago, dropped down to 26. The Jonas Brothers’ Lines, Vines and Trying Times fell from Two to Eight while Eminem’s Relapse was finally booted from the Top Five, falling from Five to Nine. Next week, with no major releases on this week’s slate, we’ll find out if the Michael Jackson discography can make a run at outselling the entire Top 200.

The curtain is slowly rising on Michael Jackson’s last show.

As in Jackson’s life, Tuesday’s public memorial at the downtown Staples Center includes the spectacle surrounding the show – legal drama, screaming fans, star power, live worldwide broadcast, unsavory accusations, even a parade of elephants – all adding up to what could be the biggest celebrity send-off of all time.

On the eve of the memorial, activity was spotted late Monday at the Forest Lawn Cemetery involving the Jackson family. The cemetery is the location where relatives were expected to hold a private funeral.

La Toya Jackson, wearing sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat, was seen being driven away from the cemetery. KCAL-TV showed helicopter footage of a hearse backing up to the Hall of Liberty – a circular building at the cemetery that contains a 1,200 seat auditorium – to deliver a casket.

A few hours later, the casket was reloaded into the hearse and delivered to another nearby building, this time covered in a blue cloth.

More than 1.6 million people registered for free tickets to Jackson’s downtown memorial. A total of 8,750 people were chosen to receive two tickets each.

“I got the golden ticket!” one fan screamed out of his car window in a Willy Wonka moment as he drove out of the parking lot.

The family announced that participants will include Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Usher, Lionel Richie, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer and Martin Luther King III.

Jackson family spokesman Ken Sunshine told ABC that Queen Latifah also will be performing.

The legal maneuvering that marked Jackson’s extraordinary and troubled life also continued Monday, with his mother losing a bid to control his enormous but tangled estate. And in one of the few reminders of Jackson’s darkest hours, a New York congressman branded Jackson a “pervert” undeserving of so much attention.

British Airways reported a surge of bookings as soon as the memorial arrangements were announced. Virgin’s trans-Atlantic flights to San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles were all packed with fans and VIPs, spokesman Paul Charles said.

About 50 theaters across the country, from Los Angeles to Topeka, Kan., to Washington, D.C., were planning to broadcast the memorial live, for free.

In Los Angeles Superior Court, a judge appointed Jackson’s longtime attorney and a family friend as administrators of his estate over the objections of his mother, Katherine. Attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain had been designated in Jackson’s 2002 will as the people he wanted to oversee his empire.

Katherine Jackson’s attorneys expressed concerns about McClain and Branca’s financial leadership. “Frankly, Mrs. Jackson has concerns about handing over the keys to the kingdom,” said one of her attorneys, John E. Schreiber.

Branca and McClain will have to post a $1 million bond on the estate, and their authority will expire Aug. 3, when another hearing will be held.

“Mr. Branca and Mr. McClain for the next month are at the helm of the ship,” the judge said.

Jackson died at age 50 with hundreds of millions in debts. But a court filing estimates his estate is worth more than $500 million. His assets are destined for a trust, with his three children, his mother and charities as beneficiaries.

Debbie Rowe, Jackson’s ex-wife and the mother of Jackson’s two oldest children, had planned to attend the memorial but backed out Monday. “The onslaught of media attention has made it clear her attendance would be an unnecessary distraction,” her attorney Marta Almli said in a statement.

A motorcade that began at the home of Michael Jackson’s parents reached a cemetery in the Hollywood Hills early Tuesday for a private service in advance of a star-studded memorial in downtown Los Angeles.

Numerous vehicles under California Highway Patrol escort headed out from the parents’ home shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday and reached Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills about 15 minutes later.

Authorities shut down sections of freeways during the height of Los Angeles’ morning rush hour to allow the motorcade to pass.

Jackson’s family members and dozens of friends, led by his parents, Joe and Katherine, were seen walking into a hall at the cemetery where a small viewing was apparently held the night before.

After the private ceremony, Jackson’s body will be taken to the singer’s public memorial. Among the celebrities expected to attend the memorial are Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Usher, Lionel Richie, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer and Martin Luther King III.

Police have blocked off roads and warned those without tickets to stay away because they would not be able to get near to the downtown venue.

Some fans were allowed past street barriers into the immediate area around the Staples Center early Tuesday. Dozens of street vendors lined up selling T-shirts, photos, buttons and other Jackson memorabilia.

More than 1.6 million people registered for free tickets to Jackson’s memorial, but only 8,750 people were chosen to receive two tickets each.

Los Angeles was the epicenter of Jackson-mania, but the outpouring of emotion was worldwide. Belgium’s two national public broadcasters were to broadcast the memorial live later Tuesday and several hundred Jackson fans gathered at a Hong Kong mall late Tuesday.

Holding white candles, Hong Kong singer William Chan and Taiwanese pop star Judy Chou led the audience in observing a 30-second silence. Many of the fans clutched red roses and wore black; some donned Jackson’s trademark fedora hats.

In America, about 50 movie theaters across the country, from Los Angeles to Topeka, Kan., to Washington, D.C., were planning to broadcast the memorial live, for free. Jackson died at age 50 on June 25.

“There are certain people in our popular culture that just capture people’s imaginations. And in death, they become even larger,” President Barack Obama told CBS while in Moscow. “Now, I have to admit that it’s also fed by a 24/7 media that is insatiable.”

AP Entertainment writer Sandy Cohen, AP Music writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody, Associated Press writers Amy Taxin, Andrew Dalton, Anthony McCartney, Danica Kirka and Michelle Rindels contributed to this report.

Michael Jackson had a mountain of unreleased recordings in the vault when he died — music that is almost certain to be packaged and repackaged for his fans in the years to come.

The material includes unused tracks from studio sessions of some of Jackson’s best albums, as well as more recently recorded songs made with Senegalese R&B singer and producer Akon and Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am.
Billboard’s Full continuing Michael Jackson coverage, including video, charts and more.

“There are dozens and dozens of songs that did not end up on his albums,” said Tommy Mottola, who from 1998 to 2003 was chairman and CEO of Sony Music, which owns the distribution rights to Jackson’s music. “People will be hearing a lot of that unreleased material for the first time ever. There’s just some genius and brilliance in there.”

The releases, Mottola said, “could go on for years and years — even more than Elvis.”

Since Jackson’s death Thursday, there has been an enormous, almost unprecedented demand for the King of Pop’s music. Nielsen SoundScan said Wednesday that three of his records — “Number Ones,” “Essential Michael Jackson” and “Thriller — were the best-selling albums of the week, and 2.3 million tracks of his have been downloaded in the U.S. alone.

When a music star of Jackson’s stature dies, labels typically comb through their archives to pull out anything they can release. New compilations of recordings by performers such as Elvis, Tupac and Jeff Buckley are still released nearly every year.

Mottola, who has described himself as the “shepherd and gatekeeper” of Jackson’s catalog and is familiar with it better than anyone, said that for every album Jackson made — including classics like 1979’s “Off the Wall” and 1982’s “Thriller” — he recorded several tracks that didn’t make it onto the records.

(Mottola had only laudatory things to say about Jackson, who criticized Mottola in 2002 as a racist. Among those who defended Mottola at the time was the Rev. Al Sharpton.)

The details of who owns Jackson’s unreleased music and concert footage are not entirely clear. Sony Music declined to comment. A person involved with the label who requested anonymity said no new projects or compilations are being planned yet.

The Jackson family has not publicly discussed plans for Jackson’s catalog. In a 2002 will filed in court Wednesday, the pop star left his entire estate to a family trust, with his mother and his children named as beneficiaries.

Steve Gordon, an entertainment lawyer and author of “The Future of the Music Business,” worked at Sony Music during the 1990s. He said he was at Sony when Jackson’s last contract was negotiated, though he acknowledged it could have recently been updated.

Gordon said Jackson owns some of his master recordings, while others are owned in partnership with Sony. Regardless, he said, Sony retains exclusive distribution rights for anything Jackson produced during the term of their contract.

Gordon said he expects Sony’s Legacy Recordings division to do something similar to what it did with Elvis and create a division purely for Jackson’s catalog.

“They’ve done every kind of configuration to try to squeeze more money out of the catalog with Elvis and they’ll do it with Michael Jackson — be sure of it,” Gordon said. “I imagine that there’s a … load of concert recordings that may or may not have been released.”

Jackson’s last original album was 2001’s “Invincible.” His 2005 child molestation trial and other controversies distracted him from recording, but he was active in recent years.

He died just weeks before he was to perform 50 concerts at London’s O2 arena in what was supposed to be his comeback. He had also begun working on new material.

Two weeks before he died, he wrapped up work on an elaborate production dubbed the “Dome Project,” which could be the final finished video piece overseen by Jackson. Two people with knowledge of the project confirmed its existence Monday to The Associated Press on condition they not be identified because they signed confidentiality agreements.

Four sets were constructed for Jackson’s production, including a cemetery recalling his famous “Thriller” video. Shooting for the project lasted from June 1 to June 9. Now in post-production, the project is expected to be completed next month.

Last year, Jackson released “Thriller 25,” an album marking the 25th anniversary of the album. It included the new song “For All Time,” as well as five remixes that involved will.i.am, Kanye West, Akon and Fergie.

The Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am has said he and Jackson recorded several songs together. He told the BBC on Monday that Jackson had possession of their demos, and that the songs “demanded all the people to the dance floor.”
Akon had hoped to complete an album with Jackson once he finished his London concerts. The singer said they used to meet in Las Vegas whenever they had the time, and would talk on the phone constantly about ideas for the album.

Akon said they never actually completed a song except for “Hold My Hand,” which leaked last year. “All the other songs were just ideas,” Akon said.

He said he will keep the song fragments — a chorus here, a verse there — “locked up in the vault” until the Jackson family decides how to proceed. He said it could be worked into a tribute album.

“It was all positive records — songs to uplift people, songs to make people think about the problems in life,” Akon said. “It was all about bringing people together.”

After his record-breaking chart week, the late Michael Jackson will continue to shake up the charts next week, too. According to SoundScan’s Building Chart data, more than 110,000 Jackson albums were purchased during the first two days of the new tracking week (June 29-30).

Billboard estimates that the seven merchants that report to Nielsen SoundScan’s Building chart — Trans World Entertainment, Best Buy, iTunes, Starbucks, Borders, Target and Anderson Merchandisers — make up about 60% of all U.S. album sales. Nielsen SoundScan’s sales tracking week runs from Monday through Sunday of each week.

“Thriller” was his top seller in those two days, shifting 44,000 copies, while “The Essential Michael Jackson” and “Number Ones” were his second and third-best sellers.

With those kinds of preliminary numbers already racked up, Jackson may yet again dominate Billboard’s Top Comprehensive Albums and Top Pop Catalog Albums charts.

Over on the Billboard 200 chart, it looks like the new “Now That’s What I Call Music 31″ compilation (Sony Music/Universal/EMI) is headed for the top slot. Industry prognosticators predict that the set could move between 140,000-150,000 in its first week. Brad Paisley’s “American Saturday Night” (Arista Nashville) will also start high, with between 120,000-130,000. Rob Thomas’ second solo album, “Cradlesong,” could perhaps do around 105,000-120,000.

Other sets looking to open high on the Billboard 200 include Wilco’s new self-titled Nonesuch/Warner Bros. album (85,000-100,000), Killswitch Engage’s eponymous Roadrunner set (40,000-45,000) and Jeremih’s self-titled Def Jam debut (40,000-45,000).