Ten days after his death, Michael Jackson is the biggest story in the entertainment world. Some of you may be crying overkill, but I’m still keeping tabs. Here’s a series of the latest links I’ve come across.

Video of Jackson at his last rehearsals.

Jackson’s public memorial confirmed for L.A.’s Staples Center on Tuesday, July 7.

TV networks planning coverage of Jackson memorial.

Billboard: How Michael Jackson’s Thriller changed the music biz.

Billboard: Jackson will likely set more chart records.

Billboard: “Michael Jackson and MTV — The M once stood for Michael.”

Madonna honors Jackson during a show at same arena in London that he was to perform 50 shows.

Former L.A. Times music critic Robert Hilburn, who probably had more access to MJ than any other scribe, writes a remembrance.

Jackson news coverage touches on the tawdry side.

It’s just like the old days. Michael Jackson is ruling the charts.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks record sales, Jackson’s solo albums sold 415,000 units last week, mostly in the time between the Friday after his death and Sunday night, when scanning for the week closed. 58 percent of the sales were digital downloads.

Because Jackson’s titles are not eligible for the Billboard 200, they are relegated to the Pop Catalog chart, where he holds the top nine positions. Three of his titles — Number Ones, Thriller and The Essential Michael Jackson — exceeded 100,000 in sales, outpacing Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D. (88,000), which claims No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It’s the first time that a catalog album has outsold the No. 1 on the 200, the survey of current albums. This week, Jackson has done it three times over.

Additionally, Jackson titles hold the first four positions on the Digital Albums chart, and six of the Top 10

Read more.

According to industry insiders, three Michael Jackson albums — Number Ones, The Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller — each sold 100,000 copies last week. The sales tracking week ended at the close of business on Sunday (June 28) night and will be reported today. That means the bulk of the sales took place in the three days after Jackson’s death.

Those six-figure tallies would’ve put the three discs at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 on the Billboard 200 —slightly ahead of the Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D. — but catalog albums are not eligible for the album sales chart, so Jackson will instead dominate the Pop Catalog survey.

Read more.

Ed. Note: What follows is a repost of an item by CL Marketing Director Joran Oppelt from his recent trip to SXSW. At the time, I thought it was just a really cool video. Today I think it’s become something more. You can see Joran’s original post here.

Quincy recalls his first encounters with Michael Jackson and their work on the best-selling records Off the Wall and Thriller, as well as the birth of MTV and how they broke through the “no black artists” mandate.

This exclusive CL TV video was shot in March at Jones’ 2009 South by Southwest keynote address. Video after the jump …

Never has so much triumph dissolved into so much tragedy.

From kid star to King of Pop to punchline. And now dead. Michael Jackson was 50 when he died earlier today of a heart attack. A shock — but, then again, when it came to Michael Jackson, nothing was.

Some people will dismiss Jackson’s death as a fitting end to a twisted caricature of a life. They might even get a chuckle out of it. I won’t. I’m hit. This is one of those celebrity deaths that I’ll remember where I was when I heard about it. (As it turned it, it was at Cirque de Soleil; I left soon after.)

I’m upset, more than I guess I thought I’d be. But I’m focusing on memories. I was there, watching, when he wowed the country with his pre-adolescent charm on Ed Sullivan, his skin the color of milk chocolate. I was there, watching, as he turned into a man, still with childlike charisma.

I was there in 1979, in an arena in Honolulu, when he performed with The Jacksons, but the most riveting material was from his new album, Off The Wall. I was there, in front of the TV, when he first did the moonwalk on Motown 25 and folks talked about it for days, months. I was there, a newly minted music critic, giving Thriller all of three stars.

And yes, I was there when he gradually sanded his skin to the color of chalk and remade his nose into a button.

There’s the temptation to view Jackson’s early death as a by-product of superstardom run amok. He was, after all, the most famous person in the world for a significant period of time. I used to be acquaintances with Jackson’s keyboardist, Greg Phillinganes, and he told me a story about going to the mall with Michael in disguise. Somehow people recognized Jackson, and he, along with his keyboardist, had to literally run for their lives.

No way we can know how much that messes with your head. But I do know that other people have experienced a similar level of fame and come out of it just fine. McCartney comes to mind.

Somewhere it all went wrong. An anecdote has stuck with me, and it’s not about hyperbaric chambers or animal menageries or child abuse. After Thriller became the runaway best-selling album in history with 25-million in sales, Jackson went into the studio to record a followup.

Taped on the wall was a note. It said: One hundred million. As I remember it, Jackson taped it there himself. He had it all wrong. The idea that he could quadruple the sale of the most purchased album of all time was fundamentally flawed. And I think it was the beginning of Michael’s demise. The album came out in 1987, five years after Thriller. It was called Bad. It gave critics a set-up, but Bad wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great, and, while it was a major hit, it didn’t sell anything close to 100-million copies.

Hard to belive that was 22 years ago. The weirdness has been well documented, but right now I’m choosing to ignore all that. I’m going to sing all those great tunes — I don’t need to list titles — in my head.

I’m going to remember Michael Jackson as one of the most electrifying arist/entertainers who ever lived.

Michael Jackson always struck me as a man who was terrified of death. Sterile masks, name it. He took it a hundred miles beyond extreme. Michael Jackson was terrified of death, and I hope he’s found out that it’s not as bad as he thought.

Right now, according to the Tweet I just got from @SXSW, Seth Rogen and Anna Faris are in Room 16AB of the Austin Convention Center – I’m sure, hyping their new film, Observe and Report.

I am across town, sitting on an overstuffed couch after a long (first) night of drinking.

Yesterday morning’s walk into town was beautiful as it’s starting to warm up in Austin (around 60 degrees and sunny), and when I got to the center, I attended two rounds of SXSW Accelerator, sponsored by Microsoft Bizspark. The competition put four contestants in four categories (Web, Social Networking, Video and Music) through a 2 minute pitch and then a round of questioning from an industry panel and keynote Guy Kawasaki.

Watch Hourville.com’s segment here.

Wandering through the fourth-floor tradeshow, I talked with companies like KickApps and Acquia. Then, I stumbled upon the Austin Chronicle (CL’s Austin counterpart). Their booth was set up like a living room – complete with couches, coffee table, twinkies and condoms (a lot of condoms at this conference). I befriended Promotions Manager Logan Youree and watched him give his e-newsletter pitch to passersby. High marks, for sure. Logan gave me a pass to their film after-party later that night at La Zona Rosa.

Around 7 p.m., we hooked up with Cheska and Monica. Travis suggested we pile in the car and head over to DK’s Sushi Bar for some porn karaoke. Now, we have this sort of thing in Tampa/St. Pete, so the prospect wasn’t that exciting, but Travis assured me that DK was particularly lecherous and that his advances were a worthwhile part of the experience. Watch the video below (NSFW) for footage of DK biting some girl’s boob while alternately chanting “pussy” and “sake bomb.” The entire place at one point actually got up and did the “Thriller” dance. Pretty amazing. (Note: Austin holds the world record for the most people doing the “Thriller” dance at one time. Check it.)

The crew was apparently worn out from all the activity, so they dropped me at La Zona Rosa on 4th St. at around Midnight. On stage (and the only band playing) was The Black and White Years. According to Austin lore, the group had been noticed at last year’s SXSW by Talking Heads guitarist Jerry Harrison, who this year produced their latest release. They were a bit underwhelming, on the back side of the curve with similar bands like The Killers and Franz Ferdinand.

Logan introduced me to Chronicle classified coordinator (and videographer!) Michael Bartnett and we had a great time discussing the state (and future) of alt-weeklies, new media, monetizing video and the crumbling of the walls between the editorial, marketing and sales departments. Good times. Video of the party forthcoming. Must take a shower.