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Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Michael Jackson is one of the worlds most successful music stars, and his sixth solo album, Thriller, has a lot to do with that. Thriller was released in 1982 and to this day is the album that has sold the most copies worldwide, clocking in at 104 million copies!
The number of sales is set to get larger since the album has also just been re-released as the Thriller 25th Anniversary Edition, which has some remixed versions of the songs on it and also comes with a DVD packed with extras, including the much loved 15 minute video to the single Thriller.
It’s no wonder the album was so popular as it is packed with many of Jackson’s best loved hits, including the titular Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean and Girl Is Mine, one of his duets with Paul McCartney. In many ways these songs are probably the most representative of Jackson at the height of his fame, before his nickname of Wacko Jacko started to over shadow his reputation as one of the greatest singers, and dancers for that matter, of the decade.
The first Now That’s What I Call Music compilation album was released in 1983, and it’s appearance completely changed the way compilation albums were viewed. It wasn’t the first compilation album by any means. I remember my Dad having several Top of the Pops albums (I don’t think this had anything to do with the BBC TV show) which he had bought when he was growing up. However, the NOW albums, as they are generally called today, changed the way such compilations were viewed from being a selection of tunes you may have heard of to a collection of current hits that you were most likely familiar with.