I expected Jackson album sales to be exceptionally high this week, but I had no idea just how staggering the numbers would be: Based on preliminary sales numbers from Nielsen SoundScan, the top nine positions on Billboard’s Top Pop Catalog Albums chart will house Jackson-related titles when the tally is released in the early morning on Wednesday. Remember, too, that SoundScan’s tracking ends on a Sunday — just three days after Michael’s death. These numbers will be even bigger for the coming week.

“Number Ones” will fittingly lead the pack at No. 1 with sales of 108,000 (an increase of 2,340 percent) while “The Essential Michael Jackson” and “Thriller” are in the second and third slots with 102,000 and 101,000, respectively. Last week “Number Ones” was the only Jackson title on the chart, at No. 20 with 4,000 copies; both “Essential” and “Thriller” re-enter the tally this week.

Additionally, his classic 1979 studio set “Off the Wall” re-enters at No. 4 with 33,000 while his 1987 album “Bad” returns at No. 6 with 17,000. At No. 5, the Jackson 5’s “The Ultimate Collection” debuts with 18,000. Jackson’s fourth studio album for Epic Records, 1991’s “Dangerous,” re-enters at No. 7 with 14,000, and his 2001 compilation, “Greatest Hits: HIStory — Volume 1,” returns to the list at No. 8 with 12,000. Finally, Jackson’s 2004 box set, “The Ultimate Collection,” charts its first week on the Pop Catalog chart, arriving at No. 9 with 11,000.

The lone non-Jackson-related set in the top 10 is a reissue of the “Woodstock” movie soundtrack, which bows at No. 10 with 8,000.

Oh, and BET Awards on Sunday — a last-minute Jackson tribute — brought in over 10M viewers. That’s even higher than the Jon & Kate season five premiere, and will probably wind up being the most-watched show in the network’s history. An estimated 10% of televisions that were on at that time were tuned to the ceremony.

Meanwhile, Michael’s will is expected to be filed in probate court very soon, but details are already starting to leak out: He left custody of his three children to his mother, Katherine, and the remainder of his assets be put in a private trust. His father, Joe Jackson, was not specifically excluded from the will, as had been rumored earlier.

I cannot believe this!  At least twelve fanatical Michael Jackson worshippers have committed suicide since the King of Pop’s death.  Did this happen when Elvis or John Lennon died?  I am beyond troubled. 

Please — no one’s death should result in people ending their own lives!  Even Jesse Jackson agrees.

I suppose it’s not any big secret that Michael Jackson isn’t the biological father of his children. That’s because the children are white. It’s something that we all knew but didn’t discuss, and people would throw out comments like, “Well, you know, just because someone has one black parent doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to look black.” And, ya know, maybe that’s true, but it’s pretty much guaranteed that they’re not going look like little Swedish kids either. It was obvious these weren’t his biological kids.

Now Us Weekly claims they’ve found the real father — an LA-based dermatologist named Arnold Klein, who was Debbie Rowe’s boss at one point, and who is white.

“He is the dad,” says a Jackson insider. “He and Debbie signed an agreement saying they would never reveal the truth.”

I wonder what kind of impact — if any — something like this will have on the custody proceedings.

Earlier today, UK tabloid The Sun released an article claiming they had information on the results of Michael Jackson’s autopsy. They said Jackson’s weight was down to 110 pounds, that he had no food in his stomach, just pills, that he had cuts and bruises on his arms and back, and a bunch of other horrible stuff.

The Los Angeles coroner says this information is false. “The report that is being published did not come from our office,” said the coroner’s spokesman. “I don’t know where that information came from, or who that information came from. It is not accurate. Some of it is totally false.”

Despite an attempt at taking vacation last week, I couldn’t escape a billion people asking me what I thought happened with Michael Jackson. So I’ll say my piece here: The man died of a drug overdose, plain and simple. My guess is, when the toxicology reports are released, you’ll see in his system much of the same things we saw in Heath Ledger and Anna Nicole’s autopsy: There will be benzodiazepines, there will be sleeping pills, and there will be pain killers. There will be all the pills you see in the system of any prescription drug addict, of any prescription med overdose.

I feel so stupid for having missed this — all these years, I thought Michael Jackson was just flat-out insane. I watched him in interviews and thought, “Man, this dude’s just off his rocker.” I chalked it up to child-star syndrome. But I was wrong — he was high. It’s becoming clear that Jackson was a likely a long-time drug addict, and he needed help that never came. It sheds an entirely new light on the events of the past decade of his life.

I know we can’t do much talking about it until we get the tox reports back and we know this for sure, but hopefully yet another high-profile death by prescription drug overdose will convince other people out there struggling with addiction to ask for and accept help. Hopefully this can serve as a reminder that prescription drug abuse can and does claim lives.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge issued a ruling this morning granting temporary guardianship of Michael Jackson’s three children to his mother, Katherine Jackson. Judge Mitchell Beckloff has set a hearing for July 6 at 8:30 a.m. for the case, where the children do not have to be present.

Prince Michael Jr., 12, Paris Michael Katherine, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7, are living with their grandmother and their grandfather, Joe Jackson, and have a “long established relationship” with her, the filing stated.

My gosh, I didn’t realize those kids have gotten to be so old! In my mind, they’re all still little babies, but Prince and Paris are in middle-school by now. The fact that I was unaware of their ages speaks volumes about what a good job the Jackson family has done of keeping them out of the spotlight. I wonder if they’ll eventually decide they want to be public figures. I don’t know why, but I have this hunch that in ten years we’re going to be seeing the Prince Michael Jackson album shoot to the top of the charts.

Anyway, Debbie Rowe (who’s the biological mother of the two older kids — the youngest was conceived by a surrogate), is still seeking custody of the children. I don’t know all the legal ins and outs here, but I do know that courts are almost always inclined to grant custody to the biological mother in cases like this. (I know that from attending my law school, Law & Order, for over a decade.) I can only hope they make the decision that’s in the best interest of these children.

Many of you didn’t appreciate my Heeeeeeerrrrreeeee’s Heaven! post about Ed McMahon — and I maintain that it was a stroke of comedic whimsy — but at least I didn’t slap on some Jheri curl, dress up like Michael Jackson, and moonwalk onto stage the way Jamie Foxx did on the BET Awards last night.  Tacky and disrespectful, right?

Also, in a time where we are trying to all come together, Jamie Foxx speaks of MJ as someone who belonged to “us” — the African American community — and that they decided to share him with everyone else.  Glad to see racism is alive and well in America.

 You just can’t judge how people deal with their grief, I guess.  Joe Jackson, father of Michael, appeared at the BET Awards last night and was happy to let everyone know that the Jackson family is doing fine — great, actually.  This CNN interview reminded me of one of those old SNL skits. 

My modern-day re-write:

CNN:  “Joe, I know the past few days have been tough.”   

Joe:    “Uh?  Tough.  Yeah, tough.  That’s the ticket!”

CNN:  “The circumstances surrounding Michael’s death have been tragic.”

Joe:     “Tragic?  But I have a new production company! (Lawyer whispers in his ear)  Oh, yes, it’s very tragic.  But we’re all doin’ great!”

At the three-minute mark, Joe gets across the message that seems to be closest to his heart.  He announces hisnew record label, Ranch Records — distributed with Blu-Ray technology, guys! — and takes time to mention that his recent wedding anniversary is the first that Michael ever showed up for.

After the jump, Janet’s short but decidedly more heartfelt tribute to her brother. 

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