Thriller is the sixthstudio album by the American singer and songwriterMichael Jackson, released on November 29, 1982, byEpic Records. It was produced byQuincy Jones, who previously worked with Jackson on his albumOff the Wall (1979). Recording took place from April to November 1982 atWestlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a budget of $750,000. With the ongoing backlash againstdisco music, Jackson moved in a new musical direction, resulting in darker themes and a mix of genres, includingrock for the first time.Paul McCartney appears as the first credited featured artist on a Jackson album.
Thriller had an enormous impact on the music industry, being influential to the idea of "blockbuster albums". In particular, the several music videos from the album are credited withtransforming music videos into a serious art form. The success gave Jackson an unprecedented level ofcultural significance for ablack American, breakingracial barriers in popular music, earning him regular airplay on MTV, leading to a meeting with US PresidentRonald Reagan at theWhite House, and notably causing an intense fan frenzy known as "Michaelmania". It was the best-selling album of 1983 worldwide, and in 1984 it became the first album to be thebest-selling in the United States for two years.
Jackson's previous albumOff the Wall (1979) received critical acclaim and was a commercial success, having sold 10 million copies at the time.[4][5][6] The years betweenOff the Wall andThriller were a transitional period for Jackson, a time of increased independence.[7] The period saw him become deeply unhappy; Jackson said, "Even at home, I'm lonely. I sit in my room sometimes and cry. It's so hard to make friends ... I sometimes walk around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home."[8]
When Jackson turned 21 in August 1979, he hiredJohn Branca as his manager.[9] Jackson told Branca that he wanted to be the biggest and wealthiest star in showbusiness. He was upset about what he perceived as the underperformance ofOff the Wall, feeling it had deserved theGrammy Award for Record of the Year.[10] He also felt undervalued by the music industry; in 1980, whenRolling Stone declined to run a cover story on him, Jackson responded: "I've been told over and over that black people on the cover of magazines doesn't sell copies ... Just wait. Some day those magazines are going to be begging me for an interview. Maybe I'll give them one, and maybe I won't."[10]
For his next album, Jackson wanted to create an album where "every song was a killer". He was frustrated by albums that would have "one good song, and the rest were like B-sides ... Why can't every one be like a hit song? Why can't every song be so great that people would want to buy it if you could release it as a single? ... That was my purpose for the next album."[11]
Production and composition
Recording
Thriller was the second Michael Jackson album produced byQuincy Jones.
Jackson reunited withOff the Wall producerQuincy Jones to record his sixth studio album, his second under theEpic label. They worked together on 30 songs, nine of which were included on the album.[12]Thriller was recorded atWestlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a production budget of $750,000 (US$2,443,706.9 in 2024 dollars[13]). The recording commenced on April 14, 1982, at noon with Jackson andPaul McCartney recording "The Girl Is Mine"; it was completed on the final day of mixing, November 8, 1982.[14] Several members of the bandToto were involved in the album's recording and production.[12] Jackson wrote four songs for the record: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "The Girl Is Mine", "Beat It" and "Billie Jean".[15] Unlike many artists, Jackson did not write these songs on paper. Instead, he dictated into a sound recorder; when recording he would sing from memory.[16][17]
The relationship between Jackson and Jones became strained during the recording. Jackson spent much of his time rehearsing dance steps alone.[17] When the album was completed, both Jones and Jackson were unhappy with the result and remixed every song, spending a week on each.[17]
"Billie Jean" was personal to Jackson, who struggled with obsessed fans. Jones wanted to shorten the long introduction, but Jackson insisted that it remain because it made him want to dance.[15] The ongoing backlash againstdisco made it necessary to move in a different musical direction from the disco-heavyOff the Wall.[18] Jones and Jackson were determined to make a rock song that would appeal to all tastes and spent weeks looking for a suitable guitarist for the song "Beat It". Eventually, they foundSteve Lukather of Toto to play the rhythm guitar parts andEddie Van Halen of the rock bandVan Halen to play the solo.[15][17]
When Rod Temperton wrote the song "Thriller", he wanted to call it "Starlight" or "Midnight Man", but settled on "Thriller" because he felt the name had merchandising potential.[17] Wanting a notable person to recite the closing lyrics, Jones brought in actorVincent Price, an acquaintance of Jones' wife; Price completed his part in two takes. Temperton wrote the spoken portion in a taxi on the way to the recording studio. Jones and Temperton said that some recordings were left off the album because they did not have the "edginess" of other album tracks.[15] A cover of "Behind the Mask", originally by the Japanese bandYellow Magic Orchestra, was omitted when the parties could not agree on royalties.[19]
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" climaxes in an African-inspired chant (often misidentified asSwahili, but actually syllables based onDuala),[28] giving the song an international flavor.[29] "The Girl Is Mine" tells of two friends' fight over a woman, arguing over who loves her more, and concludes with a rap.[17][29] The album's songs have a tempo ranging from 80 beats per minute on "The Girl is Mine", to 138 on "Beat It".[30]
Thriller foreshadows the contradictory themes of Jackson's later works.[31] WithThriller, Jackson began using a motif ofparanoia and darker themes includingsupernatural imagery in the title track.[26] This is evident on the songs "Billie Jean", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and "Thriller".[22] In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he fathered her child; in "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against media gossip.[26][25] For "Billie Jean", Jones had Jackson singoverdubs through a six-foot (180 cm) cardboard tube and brought in jazz saxophonist Tom Scott to play thelyricon, a wind-controlled synthesizer. Bassist Louis Johnson ran through his part on a Yamaha bass guitar. The song opens with a long bass-and-drums introduction.[32] "Thriller" includes sound effects such as creaking doors, thunder, footsteps, wind, and howling dogs.[17]
The anti-gang-violence "Beat It" became an homage toWest Side Story and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece.[25][33] Jackson later said of "Beat It", "the point is no one has to be the tough guy, you can walk away from a fight and still be a man. You don't have to die to prove you're a man".[29] "Human Nature", co-written bySteve Porcaro of the bandToto,[34] is moody and introspective, as conveyed in lyrics such as, "Looking out, across the morning, the City's heart begins to beat, reaching out, I touch her shoulder, I'm dreaming of the street".[29]
By the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded; AllMusic described him as a "blindingly gifted vocalist".[6]Rolling Stone criticStephen Holden likened his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" ofStevie Wonder, and wrote that "Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startlingfalsetto that's used very daringly."[5] With the release ofThriller, Jackson could sing low—down to a basso low C—but he preferred to sing higher because pop tenors have more range to create style.[35]Rolling Stone criticChristopher Connelly wrote that Jackson was now singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by sadness".[26]
"P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", credited toJames Ingram and Quincy Jones, and "The Lady in My Life" by Rod Temperton, gave the album a strongerR&B direction; the latter song was described as "the closest Jackson has come to crooning a sexy, soulful ballad after hisMotown years" byJ. Randy Taraborrelli.[29] Jackson had already adopted a "vocal hiccup" (first used in 1973 on "It's Too Late to Change the Time"[36]), which he continued to implement inThriller. The purpose of the hiccup—somewhat like a gulping for air or gasping—is to evoke emotion, be it excitement, sadness, or fear.[37]
Cover
The cover forThriller features Jackson in a white suit that belonged to photographer Dick Zimmerman. Thegatefold sleeve reveals atiger cub at Jackson's leg, which, according to Zimmerman, Jackson kept away from his face, fearing he would be scratched.[38] Another picture from the shoot, with Jackson embracing the cub, was used for the 2001 special edition ofThriller.[39]
Release and commercial reception
Thriller was released on November 29, 1982, throughEpic Records[40][41] and internationally byCBS Records.[42][43] It reached number one on theBillboard Top LPs & Tapes chart on February 26, 1983.[44]Thriller sold one million copies worldwide per week at its peak.[35][45]Thriller was thebest-selling album in the United States in 1983 and 1984, making it the first album to be the best-selling for two years. It also spent a record 37 weeks at number one on theBillboard 200, from February 26, 1983, to April 14, 1984, and has remained on the chart for 626 nonconsecutive weeks (and counting).[46][47]
Thriller was Jackson's global breakthrough, topping the charts in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Italy,Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It has gained Diamond certifications in Argentina, Canada, Denmark, France, Mexico and the UK.Thriller sells an estimated 130,000 copies in the US per year; it reached number two in theUS Catalog charts in February 2003 and number 39 in the UK in March 2007.[48] It is thesixth-best-selling album in the UK.[49]
On December 16, 2015,Thriller became the first album to be certified 30× platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of at least 30 million units in the US.[50][51] Following the inclusion ofstreaming and tracks sales into the RIAA album awards in 2017,Thriller was certified 33× platinum, representing 33 million album-equivalent units.[52] As of August 2021, the album has been certified 34× platinum in the US, denoting 34 million album-equivalent units.[53] By the end of 1983,Thriller became the world's best-selling album, having sold 32 million copies.[54][55][56] By the end of the decade,Thriller had sold 48 million copies.[57][58] It remains thebest-selling album of all time, having sold over 70 million copies worldwide.[nb 1][64][65][66][67]
Singles
Seven singles were released fromThriller. The first, "The Girl Is Mine", was criticized as a poor choice; critics predicted that the album would disappoint and suggested that Jackson was bowing to a white audience.[29] "The Girl Is Mine" topped theBillboard Hot Black Singles chart, reached number 2 on theBillboard Hot 100 and reached number 1 on theHot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.[68]
"Billie Jean" was released on January 2, 1983.[69] It reached number one on theBillboard Hot 100 chart, where it remained for seven weeks. It also topped theBillboard Hot Black Singles chart within three weeks, and it remained at number 1 for nine weeks.Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1983.[70] It topped the charts in 9 countries and reached the top 10 in many others. "Billie Jean" was one of the best-selling singles of 1983, helpingThriller become thebest-selling album of all time. It also became Jackson's best-selling solo single. "Billie Jean" was described as a pioneer of "sleek, post-soul pop music" and also the beginning of a more paranoid lyrical style for Jackson, a trademark of his later music.[32]
The third single, "Beat It",[71] also reached number one on the Black Singles chart.[69]Billboard ranked it number five for 1983. "Beat It" reached number one in Spain and the Netherlands.[69] "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was Jackson's fourth consecutive top-ten single fromThriller on theBillboard Hot 100, peaking at number 5.[72] "Human Nature" reached number 7 on theBillboard Hot 100 and number 2 on theBillboard Adult Contemporary chart.[72] "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" charted at number 10 on theBillboard Hot 100.[72]
Jacket worn by Jackson in the video "Beat It" displayed at the Hard Rock On Wheels Exhibit in Miami
"Thriller", the final single, was released on November 2, 1983.[73] It was not initially planned for release, as Epic saw it as anovelty song;[74] according to executiveWalter Yetnikoff, "Who wants a single about monsters?"[75] By mid-1983, when sales ofThriller began to decline, Jackson convinced Epic to release "Thriller", backed by anew music video.[75][76] It reached number four on theBillboard Hot 100 and number three on theBillboard Hot Black Singles chart.[72]
Music videos
The "Billie Jean" music video debuted on March 10, 1983, onMTV.[77] It brought MTV—until then a fairly new and unknown music channel—to mainstream attention. It was one of the first videos by a black artist to be aired regularly by the channel, as the network's executives feltblack music was not "rock" enough.[78] Directed bySteve Barron, the video shows a photographer who follows Jackson. The paparazzo never catches him, and when photographed Jackson fails to materialize on the developed picture. He dances to Billie Jean's hotel room and as he walks along a sidewalk, each tile lights up at his touch.[78][79]
The "Beat It" music video had its premiere on MTV during primetime on March 31, 1983.[80] To add authenticity to the production but also to foster peace between them, Jackson had the idea to cast members of rival Los Angeles street gangs theCrips and theBloods,[81] and included around 80 genuine gang members.[82] Its plot is Jackson bringing two gangsters together through the power of music and dance. It is also notable for its "mass choreography" of synchronized dancers, which would become the hallmark of Jackson's music videos.[83]
The"Thriller" music video premiered on MTV on December 2, 1983.[84] In the video, Jackson and his girlfriend (played byOla Ray) are confronted byzombies while walking home from a movie theater; Jackson becomes a zombie and performs a dance routine with a horde of theundead.[75] It was named the greatest video of all time by MTV in 1999,[85] by VH1 in 2001,[86] and byTime in 2011.[87] In 2009, it became the first music video to be selected for theNational Film Registry by theLibrary of Congress.[88] The Library described it as "the most famous music video of all time".[89]
Upon release,Thriller received high praise by critics, though some felt that it was inferior toOff the Wall. Mike Gardner ofRecord Mirror gaveThriller a positive review, though noted that the album "aims for cosy comfort" instead of the 'state of the art' technicality present inOff the Wall.[94]Gavin Martin ofNME gave an underwhelming review ofThriller, claiming that it sounds like it was released beforeOff the Wall.[95] Martin was particularly critical of Jackson's songwriting: "the overall feeling that comes fromThriller is that of barely developed artist being given too much artistic control".[95] Writing forSmash Hits, Bev Hillier noted that whileThriller is not as "instant" asOff the Wall, it is still a "first class product".[96]
InMusician,J. D. Considine laudedThriller, writing that the album "sounds every bit like a winner" and that Jackson and Jones did a "magnificent job of recreating the lithe grooves and carefully manicured arrangements" that defined the sound ofOff the Wall.[97]John Rockwell wrote inThe New York Times thatThriller is "a wonderful pop record, the latest statement by one of the great singers in popular music today" and that there are "hits here, too, lots of them". Rockwell believed it helped breach "the destructive barriers that spring up regularly between white and black music", especially as "white publications and radio stations that normally avoidblack music seem willing to pretend he isn't black after all".[98] In a contemporaneous review forRolling Stone,Christopher Connelly calledThriller "a zesty LP" with a "harrowing, dark message". He compared the songs on the album with the life challenges that the 24-year-old Jackson had faced sinceOff the Wall, while observing that he "dropped the boyish falsetto" and was facing his "challenges head-on" with "a feisty determination" and "a full, adult voice". Connelly emphasized Jackson's musical progression fromOff the Wall, writing, "Jackson's new attitude givesThriller a deeper, if less visceral, emotional urgency than any of his previous work, and marks another watershed in the creative development of this prodigiously talented performer."[26] InThe Village Voice,Robert Christgau said "this is virtually a hits-plus-filler job, but at such a high level it's almost classic anyway".[99]
A year after the album's release,Time summed up the three main singles from the album, saying, "The pulse of America and much of the rest of the world moves irregularly, beating in time to the tough strut of 'Billie Jean', the asphalt aria of 'Beat It', the supremely cool chills of 'Thriller'."[35] In 1989,Toronto Star music critics reflected on the albums they had reviewed in the past ten years in order to create a list judging them on the basis of "commercial impact to social import, to strictly musical merit."Thriller was placed at number 1 on the list, where it was referred to as his "master work" and that "commercial success has since overshadowed Jackson's artistic accomplishments onThriller, and that's a pity. It was a record for the times, brimming with breathless anticipation and a dread fear of the adult world, a brilliant fantasy that pumped with sexual heat, yet made room for serious reflection".[100] Christgau wrote inChristgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), "what we couldn't know is how brilliantly every hit but 'P.Y.T.' would thrive on mass exposure and public pleasure."[101]
Awards
Thriller toppedThe Village Voice'sPazz & Jop poll of 1983.[102] Jackson was nominated for a record 12Grammy Awards at the26th Grammy Awards.[103] The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. Jackson won seven of the Grammy Awards for the album, while the eighth Grammy Award went toBruce Swedien.[104][105][106] Richard Harrington ofThe Washington Post described the ceremony as 'The Michael Jackson Show', writing "it was exactly the kind of one-man show that everyone had anticipated".[107] In winning the Album of the Year award, Jackson became the third-youngest to win the award after Barbra Streisand at 22 and Stevie Wonder at 23.[107] That same year, Jackson won eightAmerican Music Awards, including theAmerican Music Award of Merit, and threeMTV Video Music Awards.[48]Thriller was recognized as the best-selling album of all time on February 7, 1984, when it was inducted into theGuinness Book of World Records.[108]
Rankings
In 1992,Thriller was awarded theSpecialBillboard Award to commemorate its 10th anniversary.[109] In 2000, it was voted number 64 inColin Larkin'sAll Time Top 1000 Albums. It was also ranked number 2 in the Soul/R&B – All Time Top 50 albums. The book states; it is the finest example of perfectdisco-pop, and a record that should be prescribed to musical snobs and manic depressives.[110] At the2002Billboard Music Awards, as a sign of the album's longevity,Thriller was awarded a second SpecialBillboard Award as a recognition for spending more weeks at number one on theBillboard 200 than any other album in history.[111] In 2003, it was ranked at number 20 on theRolling Stone500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, maintaining the ranking in a 2012 revised list — it's the highest ranked pop album on both lists.[112] In a 2020 updated list byRolling Stone,Thriller was ranked number 12.[113] It was ranked by theNational Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), in conjunction with theRock and Roll Hall of Fame, at number three on its list of the Definitive 200 Albums of All Time.[114][115] "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" were both included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.[116] In 2006,Time includedThriller in its list of the All-TIME 100 Albums.[117] In 2008, 25 years after its release, the record was inducted into theGrammy Hall of Fame and, a few weeks later, was among 25 recordings preserved by theLibrary of Congress to theNational Recording Registry as "culturally significant".[118][119] In 2009, music critics forMTV Base andVH1 both listedThriller as the best album released since 1981.[120]Thriller, along with other critic favorites, were then polled by the public. 40,000 people foundThriller to be the Best Album of all time by MTV Generation, gaining a third of all votes.[120][121] In 2012,Slant Magazine rankedThriller as the best album of the 1980s.[122]Thriller was ranked third on the Greatest of All TimeBillboard 200 Albums.[123]Billboard also ranked the album fourth on its list of All 92 Diamond-Certified Albums Ranked from Worst to Best: Critic's Take.[124] In 2018,The Independent namedThriller the "most inspiring album of all time".[125]
Thriller's success gave Jacksoncultural significance never before attained by anAfrican American in the entertainment industry.[126]Blender described Jackson as the "late 20th century's preeminent pop icon", whileThe New York Times wrote that he was a "musical phenomenon" and that "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".[32][127]Richard Corliss ofTime hailedThriller as "the greatest pop album of all time".[128]
Jackson changed the way the industry functioned, both as an artistic persona and as a financial, profitable entity.Thriller was released around the peak of thealbum era, which had positioned full-length records ahead of singles as the dominant form of recorded-music consumption and artistic expression in the industry. The success ofThriller's singles marked a brief resurgence in the sales of the format,[129] and changed notions about the number of singles that could be successfully released from an album.[25]
His attorney John Branca said that Jackson had achieved the highest royalty rate in the music industry to that point: about $2 (US$6.05 in 2024 dollars[13]) for each album sold. As a result, Jackson earned record-breaking profits from compact disc sales and from the sale of copies of the documentary,The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, produced by Jackson andJohn Landis. Funded by MTV, the film sold over 350,000 copies in its first few months. More profits came from novelties such as the Michael Jackson doll, which appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12 (US$36 in 2024 dollars[13]).[35]Thriller's position inAmerican culture was described by biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli: "At some point,Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a household staple".[136]
In a statement at the album's release, Gil Friesen, then-president ofA&M Records, said, "The whole industry has a stake in this success".[35] Others later agreed.Time magazine speculated that "the fallout fromThriller has given the [music] business its best years since the heady days of 1978, when it had an estimated total domestic revenue of $4.1 billion".[35]Time summed upThriller's impact as a "restoration of confidence" for an industry bordering on "the ruins of punk and the chic regions of synthesizer pop". The publication described Jackson's influence at that point as, "Star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too".[35]
The '80s were when stars replaced artists as bearers of significance... When art isintellectual property, image and aura subsume aesthetic substance, whatever exactly that is. When art iscapital, sales interface with aesthetic quality—Thriller's numbers are part of its experience.
AsThriller and "Billie Jean" sought to reach their market demographic, MTV and cable TV had a much smaller market share than broadcast television stations in the United States. CBS/Epic Records sought to promoteThriller with a national broadcast TV audience on ABC, NBC and CBS affiliate stations, as well as major independent TV stations. The national broadcast TV premiere of theThriller album's first video, "Billie Jean", was during the week of Halloween in October 1984 and was the idea ofVideo Concert Hall executive producersCharles Henderson and Jerry Crowe.[138][139] Video Concert Hall, the first nationwide music video TV network, taped the one-hour special in Hollywood and Atlanta, where the TV studios of Video Concert Hall were located.[140][141][142][143] TheThriller TV special was hosted byThriller video co-starVincent Price, distributed by Henderson-Crowe Syndications, Inc. and aired in the top 20 TV markets and much of the United States, including TV stations WNEW (New York), WFLD (Chicago), KTTV (Los Angeles), WPLG (Miami), WQTV (Boston) and WXIA (Atlanta), for a total of 150 TV stations.[138][139]
Thriller had a pioneering impact on black-music genres and crossover. According to ethnomusicologist Miles White, the album completely defined the "sound of post-disco contemporary R&B" and "updated the crossover aesthetic that had been the holy grail of black popular music sinceLouis Jordan in the 1940s". Noting its unprecedented dominance of mainstream pop music by an African-American artist, White goes on to write that "the record's song selection and sound aesthetics played to soul and pop sensibilities alike, appealing to a broad audience and selling across lines of race, gender, class and generation", while demonstrating Jackson's emergence from Motown as "the king of pop-soul crossover".[144]Entertainment Weekly writer Simon Vozick-Levinson has considered it "the greatest pop-soul album",[145] Included in their list of The 40 Most Groundbreaking Albums of All Time,Rolling Stone wrote:[146]
It's hard to imagine the present-day musical landscape withoutThriller, which changed the game both sonically and marketwise. The album's nervy, outsized blend of pop, rock and soul would send seismic waves throughout radio, inviting both marquee crossovers (like Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo on "Beat It") and sneakier attempts at genre-meshing. The album's splashy, cinematic videos — from the John Landis-directed short film that promoted "Thriller" to theWest Side Story homage accompanying "Beat It" — legitimized the still-nascent form and forced MTV to incorporate black artists into its playlists. Its promotional strategy, which led to seven of its nine tracks being released as singles, raised the bar for what, exactly, constituted a "hit-laden" LP. Beyond breaking ground, it broke records, showing just how far pop could reach: the biggest selling album of all time, the first album to win eight Grammys in a single night and the first album to stay in the Top 10 charts for a year.
Epic Records also reflected on the importance of the album: "More than just an album,Thriller has remained a global cultural multi-media phenomenon for both the 20th and the 21st centuries, smashing musical barriers and changing the frontiers of pop forever. The music onThriller is so dynamic and singular that it defied any definition of rock, pop or soul that had gone before."[147]Alan Light writing inRolling Stone explained the historic significance of the album: "In today’s world of declining sales and fragmented audiences, it is almost impossible to imagine how much this one album dominated and united the culture."[148]
From the momentThriller was released, it set the standard for the music industry: artists, record labels, producers, marketers and even choreographers. The music video was ahead of its time and it is considered a monumental one—not only in Jackson's career, but also in the history of pop music. Epic Records' approach to creating a song and video that would appeal to the mass market ended up influencing the way that professionals now market and release their songs.[149] John Landis' production of a mini-movie, rather than the usual short music video, would raise the bar for other directors and producers.[150]
Music videos and racial equality
Thriller's music videos and singles—including thePaul McCartney duet "The Girl Is Mine"—are credited with helping promote racial equality in the United States.
Before the success ofThriller, many felt Jackson had struggled to get MTV airtime due to being black.[32]CBS Records presidentWalter Yetnikoff told MTV: "I'm not going to give you any more videos and I'm going to go public and fucking tell them about the fact you don't want to play music by a black guy."[32] Yetnikoff persuaded MTV to begin airing "Billie Jean" and "Beat It", which led to a long partnership and helped other black artists to gain mainstream recognition.[151] MTV denies claims of racism in their broadcasting.[152]
The popularity of Jackson's videos, such as "Beat It" and "Billie Jean", helped popularize MTV, and its focus shifted towards pop and R&B.[151][153] Jackson transformed the medium of music video into an artform and promotional tool through the use of complex storylines, dance routines, special effects, and celebrity cameos.[25]
When the 14-minute-long "Thriller" video aired, MTV ran it twice an hour to meet demand.[154] The video marked an increase in scale for music videos and has been routinely named the best music video ever.[25] The video is credited with transforming music videos into a serious art form, breaking down racial barriers in popular entertainment, and popularizing the making-of documentary format.[155] Many elements have had a lasting impact on popular culture such as the zombie dance andJackson's red jacket designed by Landis's wifeDeborah Nadoolman.[155]
Author, music critic and journalistNelson George wrote in 2004, "It's difficult to hear the songs fromThriller and disengage them from the videos. For most of us the images define the songs. In fact it could be argued that Michael is the first artist of the MTV age to have an entire album so intimately connected in the public imagination with its imagery".[156] Short films likeThriller largely remained unique to Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has been frequently imitated.[15] The choreography inThriller has become a part of global pop culture, replicated everywhere fromBollywood to prisons in the Philippines.[157][158]
Jackson's success as a black artist was unprecedented.Time wrote in 1984: "Jackson is the biggest thing sincethe Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon sinceElvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever."[35] According toThe Washington Post,Thriller paved the way for other African-American artists to achieve mainstream recognition, such asPrince.[159] Christgau credited "The Girl Is Mine" for giving radio exposure to the idea ofinterracial love.[101]
Reappraisal
Thriller has continued to receive critical acclaim. In 2024, Andrew R. Chow wrote inTime thatThriller is "a towering pillar ofAmerican culture" and "the gold standard to which all pop artists aspire in its beloved omnipresence".[160]Stephen Thomas Erlewine ofAllMusic wrote that it had something to interest everyone. He believed it showcased harder funk and hard rock while remaining "undeniably fun", and wrote that "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", was "the freshest funk on the album [but] the most claustrophobic, scariest track Jackson ever recorded." Erlewine felt it was an improvement on Jackson's previous album, although he was critical of the title track, describing it as "ridiculous" and "sucked out the momentum" of the record.[22] InThe New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004),Jon Pareles wrote that Jackson had "doubled his ambitions and multiplied his audience ...Thriller had extra musical help in becoming the best-selling non compilation album of all time: Jackson's dancing feet and dazzling stage presence, amplified by the newfound promotional reach of music video and theReagan era's embrace of glossy celebrity. But especially in the album's seven hit singles (out of nine songs), the music stands on its own."[135] Culture criticNelson George wrote that Jackson "has educatedR. Kelly,Usher,Justin Timberlake and countless others withThriller as a textbook".[161]
Reissues and catalog sales
Thriller was reissued on October 16, 2001, in an expanded set,Thriller: Special Edition. The album isremastered and includes a new booklet and bonus material, including the songs "Someone in the Dark", "Carousel" and Jackson's original "Billie Jean" demo, as well as audio interviews with Jones and Temperton.[15][162][163] Sony also hired sound engineer and mixerMick Guzauski[164][165] to create 5.1-channelsurround sound mixes ofThriller and Jackson's other albums for theSuper Audio CD format, but Jackson did not approve the mixes.[166] Consequently,Thriller was issued on SACD only in a stereo version.[167] A surround sound version ofThriller would not be realized until November 2022, when Sony created and released360 Reality Audio andDolby Atmos mixes ofThriller forAmazon Music andApple Music respectively in honor of the album's 40th anniversary.[168]
In February 2008,Epic Records releasedThriller 25; Jackson served as executive producer.[169]Thriller 25 appeared on CD, USB andvinyl with seven bonus tracks, the new song "For All Time", a snippet of Price's voiceover and five remixes featuring American artistsFergie,will.i.am,Kanye West andAkon.[169][170][171] It also included a DVD featuring three music videos, theMotown 25 "Billie Jean" performance and a booklet with a message from Jackson.[169] Theballad "For All Time" supposedly dates from 1982, but is often credited as being from theDangerous sessions.[172]
Thriller 25 was a commercial success and did particularly well as a reissue. It peaked at number one in eight countries and Europe. It peaked at number two in the US, number three in the UK and reached the top 10 in over 30 national charts. It was certified Gold in 11 countries including the UK, received a 2× Gold certification in France and received platinum certification in Poland.[173][174][175] In the United States,Thriller 25 was the second-best-selling album of its release week, selling one hundred and sixty six thousand copies, just fourteen thousand short of reaching the number one position. It was ineligible for theBillboard 200 chart as a re-release but entered thePop Catalog Charts at number one (where it stayed for ten non-consecutive weeks),[176] with the best sales on that chart since December 1996.[177][178][179] With the arrival of Halloween,Thriller 25 spent an eleventh non-consecutive week atop the US catalog chart. This brought US sales of the album to 688,000 copies, making it thebest-selling catalog album of 2008.[180] This was Jackson's best launch sinceInvincible in 2001, selling three million copies worldwide in 12 weeks.[181]
AfterJackson's death in June 2009,Thriller set additional records. the album sold 101,000 units in the US on the chart week ending July 1, 2009 and was the third biggest-selling album of the week. The album placed at number three on theTop Pop Catalog Albums chart.[182] The following week the album sold 187,000 units in the US on the chart week ending July 8, 2009 and was the second biggest-selling album of the week.[183] Songs fromThriller also helped Jackson become the first artist to sell more than one millionsong downloads in a week.[184] According toNielsen SoundScan,Thriller was the 14th best-selling album of 2009 in the United States, with 1.27 million copies sold.[185] Thriller sold 350,000 copies in France,[186] 1.27 million in the United States and a estimated 4 million copies worldwide in 2009 following his death.[187] Since 2022, Thriller has sold over 740,000 vinyl records alone worldwide according to the IFPI[188] Having been certified for 29x Platinum by August 2009, Thriller has gone onto sell over 6,000,000 units in the United States since Michael Jackson's death according to Luminate,[189][190][191][192] with estimated sales of 36 million units to date.[193]
For one week beginning November 20, 2015,Google Play Music offered an exclusive free copy of the album to its users in the US which included the 1981 demo of "Billie Jean" as an additional track.[194] On November 18, 2022, Sony Music releasedThriller 40, a 40th-anniversary reissue ofThriller including a bonus disc containing outtakes from the original recording sessions.[195] The 2022 reissue was followed by a2023 documentary.
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^Representatives for Sony and Jackson's estate say thatThriller has sold 105 million copies globally.[59] Although sales estimates forThriller have been as high as 110 million copies,[60] these sales figures are unreliable according to various music specialists.[61][62][63]
^Jackson, Michael (March 27, 2005)."Jesse Jackson Interviews Michael Jackson" (Interview). Interviewed by Jesse Jackson. Archived from the original on March 29, 2018. RetrievedSeptember 8, 2014.
^Raftery, Brian (July 7, 2009)."Michael Jackson: The Unlikely King of Rock".Rolling Stone. Archived fromthe original on April 14, 2016. RetrievedJanuary 14, 2013.the lustrous post-disco sound ofThriller seems an unlikely muse for Stump and his bandmates
^"Michael Jackson's Thriller turns 35: How it shaped the artist, industry and MTV generation".firstpost. November 30, 2017.With a domestic revenue of approximately $4.1 billion, the album restored the confidence of the industry in the post-disco era by straddling multiple genres, riding high on the fully matured voice of the young star, and optimising the synth pop sound. It was the first album to achieve such dizzying success through all the media available at the time: radio, records and music videos.
^Zimmer, Ben (June 26, 2009)."Ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa".Language Log.Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. RetrievedNovember 2, 2010.The story behind these seemingly nonsensical syllables is a fascinating one, originating in the Cameroonian language Duala ... Jackson apparently claimed his version was Swahili, but he eventually acknowledged his debt to [Cameroonian singer Manu] Dibango ...
^Martinez, Michael."The Rhythm Section: Short cuts"(PDF).Cash Box. Vol. 44, no. 28. New York, NY, USA. p. 27.ISSN0008-7289. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on August 9, 2020. RetrievedNovember 29, 2022.The much-awaited "Thriller" album on Epic by Michael Jackson, due to ship November 29
^Note: Industry estimates & congressional hearings suggest an additional 15+ million international sales were lost to bootleg cassette sales by 1985, and millions more between 1987-1990. Bringing total circulation of Thriller to 70+ million by the end of the decadeBillboard - More Acts to pledge Money to IFPI Piracy Battle. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. July 20, 1985.George Benson and Ahmet Ertegun (Atlantic Records President) estimated that Cassette Piracy has lost Epic Records between 10-20 million additional international sales of Michael Jackson's ThrillerDigital Audio Tape Recorder Act of 1990: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Communications of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session, on S. 2358 ... June 13, 1990.U.S. Government Printing Office. 1990.Julia Pirate is a copy criminal. She sells 2,000,000 Michael Jackson cassettes every year. Julia's profit is $1 million/year. She paid $5000 for a "professional" DAT recorder because she understood that $1000 consumer machines are hobbled by an act of Congress. DAT isn't useful in her piracy career, so she keeps her machine on her 75' sailboat. Commercial piracy will not be affected by the DAT Bill: Julia gave $4000 in windfall profit to a Japanese company and added $4000 to the trade deficit.
^"Thriller 40 – A Double CD Set Of Michael Jackson's Original Masterpiece Thriller & Bonus Disc Out Now".Legacy Recordings. November 18, 2022.Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. RetrievedNovember 18, 2022.Immersive audio mixes of Thriller are now available at various DSPs, including 360 Reality Audio on Amazon, Spatial Audio on Apple Music, mixed by Şerban Ghenea from the original masters for immersive audio, with the immersive mixes by John Hanes.
^Friedman, Roger (June 7, 2024)."So Far, Michael Jackson Has Sold Over 500,000 Albums in 2024 (Just Behind the Beatles)".Showbiz411. RetrievedJuly 14, 2025.Michael's total sales for 2024 so far are up over 566,000 (January to June 2024), He's sold over 227,000 copies of his "Thriller" album since January 1st including streaming. (227,000 / 566,000 = 40% of overall album sales come from Thriller)
^29 Million copies sold by August 2009[1] (RIAA)1.5 Million copies sold between June 2009 - June 2011[2]31-32 Million Copies sold by end of 2012[3] (NewYorker)4 Million copies/units sold between 2012 to 2022 (Luminate)[4]227,000 copies/units sold in January to June 2024 (40% of total catalog sales) (Luminate)[5]1.47 million album units sold in 2023 (Luminate)[6]
^1983年アルバム年間ヒットチャート [Japanese Year-End Albums Chart 1983] (in Japanese).Oricon. Archived fromthe original on October 23, 2013. RetrievedJanuary 22, 2016 – via Entamedata.web.fc2.com.
^1984年アルバム年間ヒットチャート [Japanese Year-End Albums Chart 1984] (in Japanese).Oricon. Archived fromthe original on January 7, 2016. RetrievedJanuary 22, 2016 – via Entamedata.web.fc2.com.
^ab"Talent Almanac 1985"(PDF).Billboard. Vol. 96, no. 51. December 22, 1984.Archived(PDF) from the original on January 27, 2016. RetrievedJanuary 22, 2016.
^Berti, Eduardo (1994).Rockología: Documentos de los '80 (in Spanish). Beas Ediciones. p. 70.ISBN9508341114.Archived from the original on May 3, 2022. RetrievedFebruary 12, 2022 – viaGoogle Books.En Chile, donde Thriller de Michael Jackson había vendido 40 mil ejemplares hacia 1987, el disco Nada personal de Soda ya superaba las 60 mil copias
^ab"Michael Jackson Remains a Global Phenomenon".Billboard. July 2, 2009.Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. RetrievedMay 28, 2020.more than 100,000 copies sold not including the millions more sold through unofficial releases
^"Michael Jackson vestigt verkooprecord in Verenigde Staten".NU.nl. December 16, 2015. RetrievedApril 10, 2025.In Nederland ging de plaat twee miljoen keer over de toonbank. Met meer dan een miljard verkochte albums is de King of Pop nog steeds de bestverkopende artiest ooit.
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