Thriller (album)
Thriller is an album by
pop singer
Michael Jackson, released by
Epic Records on
December 1,
1982. The album is generally considered one of Jackson's better solo efforts by the popular press, and helped define the artist as one of music's most popular solo acts.
According to the
Guinness Book of Records,
Thriller is the world's all-time
best selling album, with sales estimated at over 51 million copies [
1]. Some sources put the figure closer to 60 million [
2], while some maintain it has only sold 47 million. In the U.S,
Thriller is the second best-selling album of all time with 27 million copies sold, (the
Eagles'
Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) is currently the best-selling album in the
United States). The album's achievements are notable as it is one of only three albums to remain in the Top 10 of the
Billboard 200 for one full year (along with
Falling Into You by
Celine Dion and
Jagged Little Pill by
Alanis Morissette), spending 80 consecutive weeks in the Top 10.
Recorded between April and November 1982,
Thriller was the second of Michael Jackson's solo albums to be produced by
Quincy Jones, though this time showcasing Jackson in a more prominent position of control than the preceding
Off the Wall album from
1979. Of the nine tracks that came to be on the final project of the album, Jackson had a hand in at least six.
Early versions of
Thriller's songs were rougher around the edges than the slicker final mixes that eventually emerged, and were based on ideas cultivated by Jackson."The sound was absolutely crunched up, was awful, unreleasable!" - Quincy Jones - Number Ones CBS TV Special. After the album was retooled by Jackson, Jones, and engineer Bruce Swedien, Epic Records released the album in December.
The album's first single, "The Girl is Mine", a poppy duet with former
Beatle Paul McCartney, was a commercially successful if critically maligned song that was solely written by Jackson. The album's second single, "
Billie Jean", was a more definitive hit. Despite the controversy surrounding the lyrics, which dealt with
illegitimacy, "Billie Jean" catapulted Jackson and
Thriller to the top of the charts, Jackson then performed "Billie Jean" at the
Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever Special exposing the ghetto dance move, the "
Moonwalk" and from there Jackson's success grew. Jackson's reinvention as a
crossover artist was complete with his third single, the
rock number, "
Beat It," which features guitar work by
Eddie Van Halen.
Original album# "
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" (Jackson)# "Baby Be Mine" (
Rod Temperton)# "
The Girl Is Mine" (with
Paul McCartney) (Jackson)# "
Thriller" (
Rod Temperton/Jackson)# "
Beat It" (with
Eddie Van Halen) (Jackson)# "
Billie Jean" (Jackson)# "
Human Nature" (John Bettis/
Steve Porcaro)# "
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" (James Ingram/Quincy Jones)# "The Lady In My Life" (
Rod Temperton)
Extra tracks added for 2001 Special Edition# "Someone in the Dark" (originally released on the "E.T. Songbook")# "
Billie Jean" (home demo)# "
Thriller" (voiceover session with
Vincent Price)# "Carousel" (unreleased track, replaced by "Human Nature")
Note: Special Edition also includes interview clips with Quincy Jones and songwriter Rod Temperton
* "Got the Hots"
* "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" (this early version is completely different to the final album recording, also later appeared on
Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection)
* "Hot Street"
* "Nite Line"
* "Trouble"
* "Who Do You Know?"
* "Carousel" (also known as Circus Girl - a truncated version appeared on the Thriller Special Edition.)
* 1982: "The Girl Is Mine" (duet with Paul McCartney) #2 Pop Singles Chart; #1 Black Singles Chart
* 1983: "Billie Jean" #1 Pop Singles Chart; #1 Black Singles Chart
* 1983: "Beat It" #1 Pop Singles Chart; #1 Black Singles Chart; #14 Hot Rock Tracks
* 1983: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" #5 Pop Singles Chart; #5 Black Singles Chart
* 1983: "Human Nature" #7 Pop Singles Chart; #27 Black Singles Chart
* 1983: "P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing)" #10 Pop Singles Chart; #46 Black Singles Chart
* 1984: "Thriller" #4 Pop Singles Chart; #3 Black Singles Chart
| Billboard 200 Chart trajectory | | Week | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
|---|
| Chart position | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
|---|
| Billboard 200 chart trajectory | | Week | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 |
|---|
| Chart position | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
|---|
| Billboard 200 chart trajectory | | Week | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 |
|---|
| Chart position | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 20 | 20 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 33 | 34 |
|---|
| Billboard 200 chart trajectory | | Week | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104 | 105 | 106 | 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 111 | 112 | 113 | 114 |
|---|
| Chart position | 39 | 51 | 56 | 55 | 56 | 78 | 77 | 89 | 105 | 106 | 102 | 110 | 105 | 102 | 94 | 94 | 91 | 84 | 84 | 82 | 101 | 111 | 112 | 125 |
|---|
| Billboard 200 chart trajectory | | Week | 115 | 116 | 117 | 118 | 119 | 120 | 121 | 122 |
|---|
| Chart position | 123 | 151 | 146 | 168 | 173 | 200 | 195 | 199 |
|---|
| Country | Certification | Sales | | Argentina | 10x Platinum | 500,000 |
| Australia | 12x Platinum | 840,000 |
| Brazil | Diamond | 1,850,000 |
| Belgium | 11x Platinum | 550,000 |
| Canada | 2x Diamond | 2,000,000 |
| Finland | 3x Platinum | 90,000 |
| France | 3x Diamond | 3,000,000 |
| Germany | 3x Platinum | 1,500,000 |
| Japan | Diamond | 2,500,000 |
| Mexico | Diamond | 500,000 |
| Netherlands | 11x Platinum | 770,000 |
| New Zealand | 10x Platinum | 150,000 |
| Portugal | 3x Platinum | 120,000 |
| Spain | 8x Platinum | 640,000 |
| Switzerland | 6x Platinum | 240,000 |
| UK | 11x Platinum | 3,300,000 |
| USA | 27x Platinum (Diamond) | 27,000,000 |
| '''TOTAL | align="right"|46,175,000 |
* The original name for the
Thriller album and single was
Starlight. "Starlight" was a song Jackson had originally written but was unsatisfied with. Jackson then had Rod Temperton write him a song he wanted for the album: a dance song with a horror theme.
*The original name for
Billie Jean was
"Not My Lover", since Quincy Jones feared people were going to mix up "Billie Jean" with "
Billie Jean King".
* Jackson had originally written "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" with his keyboardist Greg Phillinganes. The demo of that version can be heard on Jackson's
Ultimate Collection box set. The song was later re-written by Quincy Jones and James Ingram as a more edgy
funk-rock staple, rather than the original
Stevie Wonder-inspired
R&B version.
* The album holds the record for the longest stay at #1 on
Billboard's Pop Albums (
Billboard 200) chart, staying at #1 for a non-consecutive 37 weeks. The most consecutive weeks Jackson spent at the top was 17, on two separate occasions.
* At its peak,
Thriller sold a million copies a week.
*
Thriller is considered by many as the first album of the
MTV generation.
*
Thriller is tied for the record for the
most top ten singles from an album, with seven.
Bruce Springsteen's
Born in the U.S.A. and
Janet Jackson's
Rhythm Nation 1814 also contain seven top ten singles, however,
Thriller was the first to reach seven.
* "Thriller" is ranked #20 on
Rolling Stone's list of the
500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
* In July 2006, "Thriller" was named the ninth biggest selling album in British history by the
British Phonographic Industry. It was Jackson's second album inside the top ten all time list, with "
Bad" at number two behind
The Beatles' "
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
[3].
Popular songs sampled from Thriller
* "
Beat It" was sampled by
musician "Weird Al" Yankovic for his
1984 parody-hit "
Eat It"
*
"Human Nature" was sampled by
R&B group
SWV for their
1993 remix follow-up to "Right Here"
* "Lady In My Life" was sampled by
rapper LL Cool J and
R&B group
Boyz II Men for their
1995 hit collaboration, "Hey Lover."
* "
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was sampled by
rappers
Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz for their
1998 song "Startin' Somethin'."
* "
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" was sampled by
rapper Memphis Bleek and
singer Donell Jones on the song I Wanna Love U.
* "
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" was sampled by
R&B singer Monica for her
2002 song "All Eyez On Me."
*
"Human Nature" was sampled by
dance producer Jason Nevins and
singer Holly James for their
2003 song "I'm In Heaven"
*
Human Nature was sampled by 2 Pac for the song '
Thug Nature'
*
Human Nature is sampled on rapper Nas' track
It Ain't Hard To Tell produced by Large Professor
* "
Billie Jean" and "
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" appeared on the
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City video game
#
*
List of best-selling albums worldwide*
Lyrics to all the tracks on Thriller
