Michael Jackson for the Thriller album wearing an crisp white Hugo Boss suit (1982). The photographer of the Thriller cover Dick Zimmerman explains that during the shoot “Michael couldn’t find anything he was crazy about. I started to panic. His eyes lit up when he noticed the white suit that I was wearing. He said, “That’s the look I like, do we have anything like that?” We didn’t. I indicated that we were about the same height and build and asked if he would like to wear mine. That was exactly what he wanted. Fortunately for the session and the time involved, the suit fit like it was tailored for him.”
42 years ago today, #MichaelJackson, the King of Pop, released ‘Thriller’, the World’s best-selling Album of All Time! 🎂4⃣2⃣ 🐐👑
‘Thriller’, #Michael‘s 6th studio album, was released in 1982 and produced by the One & Only #QuincyJones, and has sold over 120 Million copies, powered by its monster hits “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” which both hit #1 on the US Hot 100 and most major markets internationally! Michael’s self-written and self-composed masterpiece, “Billie Jean”, became his best-selling single and one of the best-selling singles of All time, certified Diamond by the RIAA for over 10 Million sales units in the US! ‘Thriller’ spent a record 37 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, also powered by the global smash hits “Thriller”, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin”, “The Girl Is Mine”, “Human Nature” and “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” which all reached the top 10 of the US Hot 100, setting a record for the most top 10 hits from one single album! After Michael’s incredible performance of “Billie Jean” on the Motown 25 TV special, where he debuted his signature moonwalk dance, the album started selling a million copies a week, a figure which doubled after the “Thriller” MV was released on MTV! ‘Thriller’ sold 32 million copies in 1983, becoming the best-selling album of the year and the best-selling Album of all time! It was also the best-selling album of 1984 in the US, breaking records with its songs and music videos, which greatly influenced artists, record labels, producers, marketers and choreographers! With ‘Thriller’, Michael became the Biggest Star in the World, breaking racial barriers in popular music! ‘Thriller’ was one of the first albums to use music videos as promotional tools and the videos for “Billie Jean”, “Beat It” and ‘Thriller’ transformed music videos into a major form of art! ‘Thriller’ was certified 34× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2021 for 34 Million sales units in the US alone! It won a record-breaking 8 Grammy Awards at the 1984 Grammys, including Album of the Year, and Record of the Year for “Beat It”! Michael received the Diamond Award from #Beyoncé and the Guinness World Record
