Michael Jackson’s Thriller album is being celebrated with a double CD set that has unheard music from the icon. It was 40 years ago that Thriller changed the pop landscape with 7 Top Ten singles, 3 number one singles and a number one chart position in almost every country. It was the only album to spend its first 80 weeks on the charts in the top ten. Thriller was also the first album to go 20 times platinum which it achieved two years after its release. The videos for “Beat It” and “Thriller” set the paradigm for all music videos that have come after them by turning the music video into a mini film. Jackson’s video for “Billie Jean” was one of the first from a Black artist to air on MTV after late music executive Walter Yetinkoff who was the president of Jackson’s record company CBS threatened to go public about their racism when they initially refused to play it. The video for “Billie Jean” became one of the most popular on the network. Jackson took home a historic eight Grammys because of Thriller including the coveted Album Of The Year honor. He also won eight American Music Awards for Thriller and by the end of 1983, it became the best-selling album of all time an achievement it still holds today.
Walmart’s US stores will have Thriller 40 with a different cover and Target will have their own exclusive version that comes with a Thriller 40 vinyl slipmat. New Thriller 40 merchandise is available at MichaelJackson.com online store. Michael Jackson Thriller 40 officially comes out November 18th. Jackson’s music can also be heard right now in the Las Vegas show Michael Jackson ONE and the Broadway Musical MJ The Musical at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York, which was nominated for 10 Tony Awards last week.
