The unmistakable backing track, the fake-horror video with zombies, the ballet still imitated today. There are so many reasons to remember “Thriller”, song-symbol of king of popMichael Jackson. From an economic point of view, however, the song should be remembered above all for the album that contained it (same title: "Thriller"), which entered the myth as the record that has sold the most copies in the history of music. That album – US release date: November 30, 1982 – turns 37 today.
In fact, "Thriller" has been so successful that there is no agreement on the final bill of records sold. Some sources – including the Guinness World Record – state that over 110 million copies of “Thriller” are circulating on the planet today (almost double the entire Italian population), but others consider this estimate largely overestimated.
According to Recording Industry Association of America, for example, "Thriller" would not have exceeded the 33 million mark and therefore would have been beaten by the album of Eagles “The Greatest Hits 1971-1975”, published in 1976, reached 38 million copies.
The disproportion between the figures suggests that the controversy will never be resolved, but perhaps it is not so important.
Beyond the sales, in fact, "Thriller" also holds another record: it was the first album in history to place all the singles extracted (7 out of 9 tracks) in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, the main music industry chart US record company. In addition to the title song, “Thriller” also contains “Billie Jean"and "Beat It”, two other songs that have marked the global collective memory in terms of pop music.
