Michael Jackson’s landmark 1982 album Thriller vaulted from No. 13 to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Nov. 14, securing its highest chart position since the spring of 1984, Yahoo reported.
Thriller Reaches Highest Billboard 200 Placement Since 1984
- Thriller jumped from No. 13 to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Nov. 14, marking its highest placement since April 1984.
- The album generated 55,000 equivalent album units during the tracking week of Oct. 30 through Nov. 5, representing an 89% increase.
- Vinyl sales reached 19,000 units, marking the album’s largest single-week vinyl sales sum since Luminate began electronic tracking in 1991.
Streaming and Vinyl Reissues Drive 89 Percent Jump
During the tracking week of Oct. 30 through Nov. 5, which included Halloween, Thriller earned 55,000 equivalent album units, Yahoo reported. Billboard.com noted that the 89% surge was driven by seasonal streaming of the title track alongside new physical editions.
Streaming equivalent album units rose 37% to reach 32,000 units, translating to 34.34 million on-demand official streams, according to Yahoo. That streaming activity pushed the album from No. 14 to No. 5 on the Top Streaming Albums chart.
Physical Sales Reach Four-Year High
On Oct. 30, physical editions of the album arrived in stores, featuring three new vinyl variants—including two color editions and a liquid-filled version—alongside a cassette tape, Yahoo reported. Album sales surged 335% to 22,000 units, lifting the title from No. 14 to No. 3 on the Top Album Sales chart.
Hallofans.com noted that this figure marks the album’s largest single-week sales sum in nearly four years, trailing only a 23,000-unit week on the Dec. 31, 2022-dated list. Of those 22,000 sales, vinyl purchases accounted for 19,000 units, establishing the record’s biggest vinyl week since Luminate began electronic tracking in 1991.
| Metric | Value | Change / Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Equivalent Album Units | 55,000 | Up 89% |
| Streaming Equivalent Units (SEA) | 32,000 (34.34M streams) | Up 37% (No. 5 on Streaming Albums) |
| Album Sales | 22,000 | Up 335% (No. 3 on Top Album Sales) |
| Vinyl Purchases | 19,000 | Largest vinyl week since 1991 |
Jackson Achieves Highest Chart Rank in over a Decade
The Nov. 14 chart marks the highest placement for Thriller since the spring of 1984, when it logged its 37th and final week at No. 1 on the April 14-dated list, Yahoo reported. The album still holds the record for the most weeks at No. 1 by a solo artist, second only to the West Side Story soundtrack, which spent 54 weeks atop the list in 1962 and 1963.
Billboard.com reported that this surge gives Jackson his highest rank on the Billboard 200 in over a decade, following the posthumous album Xscape, which peaked at No. 2 on the May 31, 2014-dated chart. Thriller has charted on the Billboard 200 each year since Jackson’s death in June 2009, maintaining a spot in the top 20 each week since early May, spurred by the biopic Michael.
