“Thriller” Reaches The 30 Million Units Sold In The US Alone
“Michael Jackson’s Thriller has become the first album ever to be certified 30 times multi-platinum for U.S. sales, marking more than 30 million sales in the States. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) made the announcement Wednesday (Dec. 15) with the Estate of Michael Jackson, Epic Records and Legacy Recordings, as the new milestone continues Jackson’s reign as the most selling artist of all time with over 100 million sales for Thriller worldwide and 1 billion total sales to his credit.” That’s according to Billboard (here).
I’ve written a lot about Michael over the years, and I still consider Thriller second to Off The Wall, essentially because Rod Temperton’s “Thriller” drags me enough to put me a little off the album as a whole. I consider it an “A” yes, if only for cultural and economic reasons, but I consider Off The Wall an A+ for musical reasons.
Temperton used to be with disco band Heatwave, and the man is major the way Ryan Tedder is major, gifted and sucky at the same time, and if that is unfair it is only unfair to an album earlier where he brought Mike “Rock With You”. Anyway, perhaps Jackson need that pop looseness to cross it over, if “Thriller” the song was as good as, say, “Wanna Be Startin Something”, it couldn’t have withstood the big production video and, God knows, Vincent Price, getting in the way.
My opinion is beyond minority of course, and so it should be. Michael, like Presley, will sell records forever even in a world where most people don’t sell at all anymore.How can an album with “Human Nature” on it not be major?
