Michael jackson thriller when was it released

While the album could already be considered a hit, "Thriller's" chart performance in those early weeks gave no hint of the juggernaut it would turn out to be. On the strength of the No. As began, the label prepared its campaign for the album's second single, the more "urban" sounding "Billie Jean. But with MTV the rage of the music world that winter, there was no way Jackson could occupy the central spot in pop culture without its support.

And MTV didn't play black records. CBS gambled and filmed expensive videos for both "Billie Jean" and the next single, "Beat It"--videos that were a joy to behold. Jackson was a natural video star, his era's premiere song and dance man.

As a visual art form, music video is naturally suited to choreography. Yet with the exception of Toni Basil's "Mickey" clip from the previous fall, there really hadn't been any accomplished dancing featured in videos shown on MTV. This was largely due to the fact that the music business hadn't in recent years nurtured artists who could dance-even the stars of disco music weren't consummate dancers themselves.

All that would eventually change after "Thriller," with the coming of Madonna, Michael's sister Janet, and Paula Abdul, among others. Despite the obvious quality of the Jackson videos, MTV initially resisted playing them, claiming it was a rock station and Jackson didn't fit the format.

There is to this day some disagreement as to what led the channel to change its policy and add "Billie Jean. They concede that the channel initially assumed it would not play the video, as its thumping beat and urban production did not fit the channel's "rock" image. They contend however that in mid-February, after seeing the clip--which was possibly the best that had ever come across their desks--they began to re-think things.

Coupled with the fact that even without MTV, the song had just leaped in one week from No. MTV's -- and Jackson's -- timing was perfect. Simultaneously, "Billie Jean's" momentum was the thing that finally pulled the "Thriller" album all the way up to No. But a number one single and album turned out to be only the beginning-for both Jackson and MTV. MTV was already at the white-hot center of the pop universe, but it was only when they added Michael Jackson that they found their real star.

The idea of the hottest pop star in the world being shown on TV throughout the day-between the two clips, you didn't need to sit in front of your TV for very long to catch Michael on MTV-made the network even more talked-about than before. New viewers watched MTV because they'd heard how great the Michael Jackson videos were; at the same time, MTVs core audience was blown away by videos featuring a type of music they weren't supposed to like-except it turned out they did.

To use a modern term to describe what was happening back then, MTV and Michael Jackson made each other go viral. The "Billie Jean" video had been a revelation because it showcased the brilliance of Jackson's performance. It achieved that goal, being played on rock radio stations and earning Jackson yet another category of fans that would not otherwise have gravitated to his music In this regard Michael Jackson was actually beaten to the punch by his older brother Jermaine, who featured the new wave band Devo on his hit "Let Me Tickle Your Fancy," which had also garnered some rock airplay.

Then, just when it didn't seem possible that Jackson could get any bigger, he did. On May 16th, with "Beat It" at No. Drawn by a desire to see Michael Jackson's first performance on a stage since the release of "Thriller," 47 million Americans tuned in, many of whom did not yet have cable television and thus could not see Jackson's videos on MTV.

The performance Jackson gave that night hurled his career even further into the stratosphere. A full year after "Thriller's" release, after the record-setting seven Top 10 singles and countless weeks at No.

It was immediately acclaimed as perhaps the greatest music video ever made and it reignited Michael-mania. A commercial videocassette featuring the short film shot to the top of the video chart and went on to become the biggest selling music video of all time. Meanwhile, the "Thriller" album, which had fallen out of the No. The Grammy telecast two months later, during which Jackson won eight Grammys, served as the formal coronation of Jackson as King of Pop, although now by that point the fact was obvious.

But "Thriller's" legacy goes far beyond its own sales and awards accomplishments. Once MTV found success with Michael Jackson, videos by other black performers quickly appeared on the playlist. This development single-handedly forced pop radio to reintroduce black music into its mix: After all, pop fans, now accustomed to seeing black artists and white artists on the same video channel, came to expect the same mix of music on pop radio.

It was impossible to keep the various fragments of the audience isolated from one another any longer. Mass-appeal Top 40 radio itself made a big comeback due to this seismic shift. Beginning in early in Philadelphia, and rapidly spreading through the country, one or more FM stations in every city switched to Top 40 and many rose to the top of the ratings playing the mix of music made popular by MTV-young rock and urban hits. In the age of "Thriller," black music made a resounding comeback on the pop charts.

If was the genre's low point in terms of pop success, by more than one third of all the hits on the Billboard Hot were of urban radio origin. Even Prince's "" single, shut out of pop radio upon its initial release in , was re-launched in mid and off the back of its belated MTV exposure became a huge pop radio success the second time around. Black music was back at the center at the mainstream, and to this day it has never again been pushed from the spotlight.

This song came with a hugely successful music video, which premiered on December 2, , a month after the song had been released as a single. The music video was directed by John Landis, who had released his horror movie An American Werewolf in London in Reportedly Michael saw this film and contacted John, wanting to create a music video unlike any previously seen.

It references many horror tropes and films, with zombies, werewolves and a damsel in distress featuring heavily. As well as this, Michael wore a now-iconic red jacket which became hugely influential, and a similar jacket was worn by his daughter Paris at a tribute concert to him.

As for the album itself, it was in the top spot of the Billboard chart for a record 37 weeks and is still the best-selling album of all time. Michael broke the record for most Number One singles from a single album, with seven, until this was matched by Bruce Springsteen two years later with Born in the USA. Love Glastonbury? In , US album sales dipped nearly 18 percent, to roughly million copies sold, according to Nielsen.

And, mega-stars like Taylor Swift whose "Reputation" led all album sales last year, with 1. Chic's Nile Rodgers says many musicians often don't understand the value of their songs. Like this story? Skip Navigation. Jennifer Liu. Michael Jackson performing "Thriller" in