Thriller is the sixth studio album by the American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson, released on November 29, 1982,[4][5] by Epic Records. It was produced by Quincy Jones, who had previously worked with Jackson on his 1979 album Off the Wall and who would later produce his 1987 album Bad. Jackson wanted to create an album where "every song was a killer". With the ongoing backlash against disco music at the time, he moved in a new musical direction, resulting in a mix of pop, post-disco, rock, funk, synth-pop, and R&B sounds. Thriller foreshadows the contradictory themes of Jackson's personal life, as he began using a motif of paranoia and darker themes. Paul McCartney appears on "The Girl Is Mine", the first credited appearance of a featured artist on a Michael Jackson album. Recording took place from April to November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a budget of $750,000.
Thriller became Jackson's first number-one album on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart, where it spent a record 37 non-consecutive weeks at number one, from February 26, 1983, to April 14, 1984. Seven singles were released: "The Girl Is Mine", "Billie Jean", "Beat It", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' ", "Human Nature", "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", and "Thriller". They all reached the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, setting a record for the most top 10 singles from an album, with "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" reaching number one. Following Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean" in the Motown 25 television special, where he debuted his signature moonwalk dance, the sales of the album significantly increased, selling one million copies worldwide per week. The "Thriller" music video was premiered to great anticipation in December 1983 and played regularly on MTV, which also increased the sales.
With 32 million copies sold worldwide by the end of 1983, Thriller became the best-selling album of all time, and was ratified by Guinness World Records on February 7, 1984. It was the best-selling album of 1983 worldwide, and in 1984 it became the first album to become the best-selling in the United States for two years. It set industry standards with its songs, music videos, and promotional strategies influencing artists, record labels, producers, marketers, and choreographers. The success gave Jackson an unprecedented level of cultural significance for a black American, breaking racial barriers in popular music, earning him regular airplay on MTV and leading to a meeting with US President Ronald Reagan at the White House. Thriller was among the first albums to use music videos as promotional tools; the videos for "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and "Thriller" are credited for transforming music videos into a serious art form.
Thriller is the best-selling album of all time, having sold between 70-100 million copies worldwide.[6][7]It is the best selling non-compilation album and second-best-selling album overall in the United States and was certified 34× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2021. It won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards at the 1984 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male. "Beat It" won two Grammys for Record of the Year & Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, and "Billie Jean" won two Grammys for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male & Best Rhythm & Blues Song.[8] Jackson also won a record-breaking eight American Music Awards at the 1984 American Music Awards. The album has been a frequent inclusion in lists of the greatest albums of all time. In 2008, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In the same year, the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant recordings".
Jackson's previous album Off the Wall (1979) received critical acclaim and was a commercial success, having sold 10 million copies at the time.[9][10][11] The years between Off the Wall and Thriller were a transitional period for Jackson, a time of increased independence.[12] 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."[13]
When Jackson turned 21 in August 1979, he hired John Branca as his manager.[14] 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 of Off the Wall, feeling it had deserved the Grammy Award for Record of the Year.[15] He also felt undervalued by the music industry; in 1980, when Rolling 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."[15]
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.
Jackson reunited with Off the Wall producer Quincy Jones to record his sixth studio album, his second under the Epic label. They worked together on 30 songs, nine of which were included on the album.[17] Thriller was recorded at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a production budget of $750,000 (US$2,367,931.03 in 2023 dollars[18]). The recording commenced on April 14, 1982, at noon with Jackson and Paul McCartney recording "The Girl Is Mine"; it was completed on the final day of mixing, November 8, 1982.[19] Several members of the band Toto were involved in the album's recording and production.[17] Jackson wrote four songs for the record: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "The Girl Is Mine", "Beat It" and "Billie Jean".[20] 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.[21][22]
The relationship between Jackson and Jones became strained during the recording. Jackson spent much of his time rehearsing dance steps alone.[22] When the album was completed, both Jones and Jackson were unhappy with the result and remixed every song, spending a week on each.[22]
"Billie Jean" was so 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.[20] The ongoing backlash against disco made it necessary to move in a different musical direction from the disco-heavy Off the Wall.[23] 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 found Steve Lukather of Toto to play the rhythm guitar parts and Eddie Van Halen of the rock band Van Halen to play the solo.[20][22]
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.[22] Wanting a notable person to recite the closing lyrics, Jones brought in actor Vincent 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.[20] A cover of "Behind the Mask", originally by the Japanese band Yellow Magic Orchestra, was omitted when the parties could not agree on royalties.
Thriller was released on November 29, 1982, through Epic Records[45] and internationally by CBS Records.[46][47] It reached number one on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart on February 26, 1983.[48] Thriller sold one million copies worldwide per week at its peak.[40] Thriller was the best-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 the Billboard 200, from February 26, 1983, to April 14, 1984, and has remained on the chart for 500 nonconsecutive weeks (and counting).[49][50]
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 the US Catalog charts in February 2003 and number 39 in the UK in March 2007.[51] It is the sixth-best-selling album in the UK.[52]
On December 16, 2015, Thriller was certified 30× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of at least 30 million units in the US.[53][54] After the inclusion of streaming and tracks sales into the RIAA album awards in 2017, Thriller was certified 33× platinum for a total of 33 million album-equivalent units.[55] By the end of 1983, Thriller became the world's best-selling album, having sold 32 million copies.[56][57] It remains the best-selling album of all time, having sold over 70 million copies worldwide.[nb 1][63][64]
Singles
Seven singles were released from Thriller. The first, "The Girl Is Mine", was criticized as a poor choice;[by whom?] critics predicted that the album would disappoint and suggested that Jackson was bowing to a white audience.[34] "The Girl Is Mine" topped the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart, reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 1 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.[65]
"Billie Jean" was released on January 2, 1983.[66] It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it remained for seven weeks. It also topped the Billboard 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.[67] 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, helping Thriller become the best-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.[37]
The third single, "Beat It",[68] also reached number one on the Black Singles chart.[66] Billboard ranked it number five for 1983. "Beat It" reached number one in Spain and the Netherlands.[66] "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was Jackson's fourth consecutive top-ten single from Thriller on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 5.[69] "Human Nature" reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.[69] "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" charted at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.[69]
"Thriller", the final single, was released on November 2, 1983.[70] It was not initially planned for release, as Epic saw it as a novelty song;[71] according to executive Walter Yetnikoff, "Who wants a single about monsters?"[72] By mid-1983, when sales of Thriller began to decline, Jackson convinced Epic to release "Thriller", backed by a new music video.[72][73] It reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart.
THRILLER 40 TH ANNIVERSARY
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