Once rumored to be nearly destitute and long known to be mentally unstable, the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson, will release his new album "Imagine" on Nov. 11, 2003, on his own record label, Manboy, after being released from longtime home Sony Music.

Jackson funded the project himself and has announced a deal with Clear Channel in which he will pay the telecommunications giant $100 million to have his new single “Playground” played hourly on each of Clear Channel’s 2,430 radio stations across America. The deal should instantaneously propel “Playground” to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in its first week on the charts.

Penned by R. Kelly, who also wrote Jackson’s last US No. 1 “You Are Not Alone,” “Playground,” which ends with a rousing climax from the Vienna Boys Choir was set to feature R&B star Ashanti (“Baby,” “Rock With U (Aww Baby),” “Sweet Baby”), but according to press reports, conflicts with Ashanti’s label have led her vocals to be replaced on the single version by first time chanteuse Ashley Olsen.

“This is definitely a power play for Jackson,” says Bear Bartels, PD of New York’s influential pop station WZZZ. “No one really played his last two songs, but he’s out and out going to buy a hit here, it’s a gutsy move.”

For his part, R. Kelly seems nonplussed by Jackson’s chart travails.

“When Michael asked me to write him a new joint,” intones Kelly, “and he told me he could get an Olsen twin up in here, I was like, daayaaamn! Hit the ignition!”

Jackson, whose fortune lies largely in the rights he co-owns with Sony, to the Beatles catalog, has a clear explanation for the reason his last album Invincible didn’t live up to expectations.