Thriller – Michael Jackson (1982)

June 13, 2025

After a prolific run as a child star throughout the 1970s – during which he released albums as both a solo artist and the face of the Jackson 5 – Michael Jackson took a big leap forward with 1979’s Off The Wall. Aside from being his first record as a true adult (he turned 21 shortly after its release), it was also his first collaboration with producer Quincy Jones, who he had met while co-starring in the 1978 film adaption of The Wiz. For the first time, he was able to establish himself as a true bonafide adult pop star – with mega hits like “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and “Rock with You” – rather than the cute kid who had become famous for songs like “ABC” and “I Want You Back.” And despite the fact that the album had performed extremely well – peaking at #3 on the charts and featuring two #1 singles – Michael wanted to take his success to a different level entirely. He wanted to release an album where “every song was a killer,” and he did exactly that with 1982’s Thriller.

On top of running it back with Jones as the album’s producer, Jackson brought in some of the best in the business to collaborate with him on the record. Paul McCartney would sing co-lead on “The Girl Is Mine,” Eddie Van Halen would play the guitar solo on “Beat It,” and the members of Toto would contribute to several tracks throughout the album. He also decided that given the anti-disco backlash that had begun to rise in the early 80s, he wanted to move toward a different sound than his prior record – leaning into funk, R&B, rock, and synth pop. But throughout the recording process, Jackson frequently found himself butting heads with Quincy Jones, and both men were so dissatisfied with the initial results that they would end up remixing every single track on the record – adding an additional nine weeks to the process.

McCartney and Jackson on the cover of “The Girl Is Mine” single

Despite the creative dissent and initial dissatisfaction (or perhaps because of it), Thriller would go on to smash every single record in the history of American music and become truly the most popular, groundbreaking, and influential album of all time. It not only catapulted to #1 on the charts, but stayed there for 37 weeks – selling one million copies per week at the peak of its popularity. The album’s seven singles all reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, setting the record for the most top 10 hits on one album that would stand for almost 40 years (until it was broken by Drake with Certified Lover Boy). But despite the fact that this record was broken by Drake in 2021 and then Taylor Swift in 2022 (God help us all), it still maintains its position as the best selling album of all time – with the current estimate at around 70 million copies sold. A huge portion of its sales came after the release of the music video for “Billie Jean,” which would also catapult MTV into the mainstream and completely revolutionize the industry by legitimizing the music video as a serious form of art. His follow-up videos of “Beat It” and “Thriller” (the latter of which is widely considered the best music video of all time) would only further propel him into icon status and make him the undisputed face of pop culture. And on top of the historic sales and unparalleled acclaim (the album would receive a record-breaking eight Grammys), it is also credited as being instrumental in the breaking of the racial divide that had been prevalent throughout pop music.

Jackson, Jones, and Thriller’s eight Grammys

I will put it plainly in case it isn’t abundantly clear by this point – Thriller is the best pop record of all time, and Michael Jackson is the greatest pop star of all time. There’s no discussion; there’s no debate; there’s no question. That is just the reality of the situation. Despite the fact that some of his records have been broken (and the likelihood that the remaining ones will eventually fall as well), nothing will ever replicate the singularity of this incredible album and this one-of-a-kind person. Thriller wasn’t just an album. It wasn’t even just a hit album. It was an absolute phenomenon that transcended the music industry, MTV, the Billboard Top 200, and even pop culture as a whole. This album captured the zeitgeist of the United States in the 1980s, and still to this day is one of the most well known and beloved pieces of art ever released across any medium. Every song is absolutely a killer, ‘cause this is Thriller.