The record included a number of incredible tracks including Thriller, Billie Jean, Beat It, PYT (Pretty Young Thing) and Wanna Be Startin’ Something.
This week it was announced Michael’s Thriller has reached 34x Platinum status after selling 34 million units in the US.
Michael Jackson released Thriller in 1982 (Image: GETTY)
At the time of writing, Thriller is the second best-selling album in the US of all time.
MJ only follows The Eagles’ Greatest Hits album, which has currently sold 38 million copies in the US.
Worldwide, however, Thriller has a different accolade.
Thriller is still the best-selling album of all time worldwide, after selling 70 million copies.
Not only is the record publicly loved, but it was also commercially adored.
The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards at the 1984 ceremony, including Album of the Year.
Thriller almost didn’t make history, however, as the star once deemed the record as “crap”.
Michael was interviewed in the 1980s where he discussed the creation of the record with his producer Quincy Jones.
At the time he said: “Thriller sounded so crap. The mixes sucked. When we listened to the whole album, there were tears… I just cried like a baby. I stormed out of the room and said: ‘We’re not releasing this.’” (Via NME)
A fated visit to a school helped him fix the album.
He went on to reveal: “One of the maintenance crew in the studio had a bicycle and so I took it and rode up to the schoolyard. I just watched the children play.”
Michael went on: “When I came back I was ready to rule the world. I went into the studio and I turned them songs out.”
When he later went on to film the seminal Thriller music video – but he also wasn’t happy with that.
In fact, the American star wanted to destroy the video, as it “clashed with his religious views”.
