Thriller

Released in 1982

Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' Baby Be Mine The Girl Is Mine (With Paul McCartney) Thriller Beat It Billie Jean Human Nature P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) The Lady In My Life

Produced by Quincy Jones for Quincy Jones Productions

After the success of his first EPIC solo album Off The Wall Michael Jackson was about to enter new dimensions with the next one. On December 1 he released Thriller, produced by Quincy Jones, co-produced by Michael. The first single of it was a duett with Paul McCartney called The Girl Is Mine. It went to platinum and to #2 on the pop charts. With the year ending, the album had sold 1 million copies. In January the second single came. Billie Jean entered the #1 spot and also helped to make the album #1 (for 37 weeks).The video was the first of a black artist to be on the MTV Playlist.

The third single, Beat It, featured guitar hero Eddie van Halen with an unbelievable solo. With this single topping the #1 spot, Michael made another outstanding short film for it with wonderful choreography.

In May of 1983 the Jackson 5 reunited (including Jermaine) for the Motown 25th anniversary. More than 50 million people were watching Michaels incredible solo performance of Billie Jean.It was the first time the world saw the Moonwalk. After this Emmy-nominated performance sales of the album increased.

Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', the next single climbed the #5 spot, while Human Nature and P.Y.T went both into the Top10. Also Michaels duet with Paul McCarntey (Say, Say, Say) went to #1. Until December 1983 the album has sold about 10 million copies. But on December 14, the may best ever short film aired on MTV.

The groundbreaking 14-minute short film Thriller hit the world. It's considered as the most important clip in music history. The single went to #3, giving the album its 6th Top10 single. Also the home video The Making Of Michael Jackson's Thriller was a huge hit, selling 900,000+ copies, making it the largest selling music video of all time.

At all Thriller is the best selling album of the world (48 million units sold), it is also the best selling album of the US (25 million copies). Michael Jackson was honored with many awards, inlcuding 7 American Music Awards, 7 Grammy Awards (plus another one the same year for best children recording, E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial) and 3 MTV Video Music Awards.