Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Christgau's Record Guide	A
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Entertainment Weekly	A
MusicHound R&B	5/5
Q
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Slant Magazine
The Village Voice	A–

Thriller is the sixth studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released on November 30, 1982 by Epic Records. The follow-up to Jackson's successful previous album, Off the Wall (1979), Thriller explores genres similar to those of its predecessor, including pop, post-disco, rock and funk. Recording sessions for Thriller took place from April to November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, with a production budget of $750,000 (US$1,861,293 in 2016 dollars). Quincy Jones produced the album, while Jackson wrote four of its nine songs.

In just over a year, Thriller became—and currently remains—the world's best-selling album, with estimated sales surpassing 65 million copies. It is the best-selling album in the United States and the first album to be certified 33x multi-platinum, having shipped 33 million album-equivalent units. The album won a record-breaking number of eight Grammy Awards in 1984, including Album of the Year. Seven singles were released from the album, all of which reached the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Thriller also enabled Jackson to break down racial barriers in pop music, via his appearances on MTV and meeting with the US President Ronald Reagan at the White House. The album was one of the first to use music videos as successful promotional tools, and the videos for the songs "Thriller", "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" all received regular rotation on MTV.

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Wikipedia