Pop-Music Stars

Thriller.

In 1983 a single talent redefined the style, course, and possibilities of music videos—Michael Jackson. In making recording history with Thriller, the top-selling album of all time, he earned the tag "one-man rescue team for the record business" from Time magazine. The success of his album was indeed extraordinary; largely owing to Thriller, the recording industry in 1983 had its best year since 1978. The album spent thirty-seven weeks of 1983 at number one on the Billboard album chart; by early 1984 30 million copies had been sold, and it was still selling at a rate of more than a million copies a week worldwide. At the height of Jacksonmania, Thriller sold a million copies every four days. Jackson released a record-setting seven Top 10 singles from the album, including the number-one hits "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" in 1983. He also became the first artist in history to top...

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