Michael Jackson – Thriller Limited Edition LP

Thriller is the sixth studio album by the American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson, released on November 29, 1982, by Epic Records. It was produced by Quincy Jones, who previously worked with Jackson on his album Off the Wall (1979). Recording took place from April to November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a budget of $750,000 (equivalent to $2,443,707 in 2024). With the ongoing backlash against disco music, Jackson moved in a new musical direction, resulting in darker themes and a mix of genres, including rock for the first time. Paul McCartney appears as the first credited featured artist on a Jackson album.

Thriller was praised by critics and soon attracted greater acclaim. It was Jackson’s first number-one album on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart, and stood atop for a record 37 non-consecutive weeks. The album’s second and third singles, “Billie Jean” and “Beat It”, topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, while “The Girl Is Mine”, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'”, “Human Nature”, “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”, and “Thriller” also reached the Top 10, setting a record for the most Top 10 hits from one album. Sales of Thriller surged after Jackson debuted his signature moonwalk dance in Motown 25 and the “Thriller” music video premiered on MTV, and by 1984 it had sold 32 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling album of all time.

Thriller had an enormous impact on the music industry, influencing fellow artists and contributing to the concept of a “blockbuster album”. In particular, the several music videos from the album are credited with transforming music videos into a serious art form. 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, leading to a meeting with US President Ronald Reagan at the White 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 the best-selling in the United States for two years.

Thriller is often recognized as an important event in American culture and is regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time. It remains the best-selling album, having sold an estimated 70 million copies worldwide, and is certified 34× platinum in the US, making it the second-best-selling album in the US. In 1984, it won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for “Beat It”, and a record-breaking eight American Music Awards, including the special Merit honor. In 2008, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry of “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant recordings”.