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.)

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.

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