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Episode 15–Thriller
It was the biggest album of 1982, and the title track was the last Top Ten single to come from it. That’s seven singles out of nine tracks total.
Michael Jackson wanted to top not only the success, but the ambition of his previous album, Off The Wall, and I think we can all agree that he more than succeeded. Thriller remains the largest-selling album of all time.
What! you say, bigger than Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band? Bigger than Dark Side of the Moon? Bigger than Bat Out of Hell? Yes, indeed. As of this week, the top 15 all-time sellers are:
Artist
Album Title
Year
Sales (in millions)
Michael Jackson
Thriller
1982
66
AC/DC
Back in Black
1980
50
Pink Floyd
The Dark Side of the Moon
1973
45
Meat Loaf
Bat Out of Hell
1977
43
Whitney Houston / Various artists
The Bodyguard Soundtrack
1992
42
Eagles
Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975)
1976
42
Bee Gees / Various artists
Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack
1977
40
Fleetwood Mac
Rumours
1977
40
Shania Twain
Come On Over
1997
39
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin IV
1971
37
Michael Jackson
Bad
1987
35
Alanis Morissette
Jagged Little Pill
1995
33
Celine Dion
Falling into You
1996
32
The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
1967
32
Michael Jackson
Dangerous
1991
32
That’s THREE albums Jackson has in the all-time Top 15, and Off the Wall isn’t even one of them. (It’s way down the list, a spot or two below HIStory.)
This was one of the pictures originally considered for the album’s cover, which is why they used it for the Special Edition.
Anyway. Today we’re looking at the title track, a song that started as “Starlight” and ended with Quincy Jones’ wife recruiting Vincent Price to do a little white-boy rap.
Per our Standard Operating Procedure, if you’ve got a favorite podcatcher, you should be able to hear this week’s show already, or you can just click the player below:
And, as usual, if you were to go to iTunes or wherever you find your podcasts and leave a rating, and maybe even some feedback, well, that’d be nice too.
View all episodes
By Claude Call
4.9
2424 ratings
It was the biggest album of 1982, and the title track was the last Top Ten single to come from it. That’s seven singles out of nine tracks total.
Michael Jackson wanted to top not only the success, but the ambition of his previous album, Off The Wall, and I think we can all agree that he more than succeeded. Thriller remains the largest-selling album of all time.
What! you say, bigger than Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band? Bigger than Dark Side of the Moon? Bigger than Bat Out of Hell? Yes, indeed. As of this week, the top 15 all-time sellers are:
Artist
Album Title
Year
Sales (in millions)
Michael Jackson
Thriller
1982
66
AC/DC
Back in Black
1980
50
Pink Floyd
The Dark Side of the Moon
1973
45
Meat Loaf
Bat Out of Hell
1977
43
Whitney Houston / Various artists
The Bodyguard Soundtrack
1992
42
Eagles
Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975)
1976
42
Bee Gees / Various artists
Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack
1977
40
Fleetwood Mac
Rumours
1977
40
Shania Twain
Come On Over
1997
39
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin IV
1971
37
Michael Jackson
Bad
1987
35
Alanis Morissette
Jagged Little Pill
1995
33
Celine Dion
Falling into You
1996
32
The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
1967
32
Michael Jackson
Dangerous
1991
32
That’s THREE albums Jackson has in the all-time Top 15, and Off the Wall isn’t even one of them. (It’s way down the list, a spot or two below HIStory.)
This was one of the pictures originally considered for the album’s cover, which is why they used it for the Special Edition.
Anyway. Today we’re looking at the title track, a song that started as “Starlight” and ended with Quincy Jones’ wife recruiting Vincent Price to do a little white-boy rap.
Per our Standard Operating Procedure, if you’ve got a favorite podcatcher, you should be able to hear this week’s show already, or you can just click the player below:
And, as usual, if you were to go to iTunes or wherever you find your podcasts and leave a rating, and maybe even some feedback, well, that’d be nice too.