Why “Thriller” won’t be the #1 album of the week (even though it should be!)

So will it be “Thriller” or The Black Eyed Peas “The E.N.D.” selling the most copies this week?  Early estimates have “Thriller” as well as two of Michael Jackson’s greatest hits CD’s selling about 100,000 copies EACH this week!  The Peas, who had the #1 CD two weeks ago, are estimated to have sold a similar number this week as well (Jonas Brothers, who had last week’s #1, evidently dropped off a bit this week).  How cool would that be to have “Thriller” back at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart as one last tribute to the entertainer?  It was the #1 selling album in the country for an incredible 37 weeks back in 1983-84!  We’ll find out the official totals and rankings tomorrow (Wednesday), but here’s the problem… ”Thriller” is not eligible to chart on the Top 200 Albums chart anymore!  Lame!  Billboard, the magazine that prints all the music charts, actually has a separate chart for older CD’s called Top Catalog Albums, which is where “Thriller”, as well as many other MJ albums, should dominate the Top 10.  But if it sells more than The Black Eyed Peas, I don’t see why it couldn’t be put back on the main chart!  This is obviously a very rare occurence, where an old album actually sells enough copies to place on the regular albums chart, but evidently Billboard is going to abide by their rules, and not make an exception for MJ.  So even if “Thriller” actually sells more copies than any other CD in the country this week, it sadly won’t be #1 on the Top 200.  And that’s kind of a bummer.