Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” has become the first album to be certified 30-times multi-platinum in USA sales, topping more than 30 million sales in America, the Recording Industry Association of America announced Wednesday.
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“This is the first time an artist has crossed the 30X multi-Platinum plateau”, Cary Sherman, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), said in a press release. The group monitors music sales and bestows gold status on albums that have sold 500,000 copies and platinum status if they reach 1 million sales.
In this way, the eight Grammy Awards victor disk remains as the best seller of all time, exceeding 100 million copies worldwide, announced the RIAA, with the Estate of Michael Jackson, Epic Records and Legacy Recordings. It was also the first album in history to spend its first 80 weeks in the album chart’s top 10, which has only been replicated once since. It includes some of Jackson’s most recognizable hits, including “Beat It“, “Billie Jean”, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'” and the title track, which inspired one of the most famous music videos of all time.
“Thriller” scored renewed sales with the release of a reissued 25th anniversary edition in 2008 and Jackson’s death a year later.
“It is crystal clear that Michael Jackson is simply the greatest, and biggest, artist of all time”, LA Reid, chairman of his label Epic Records, said as he saluted the new feat. When the album came out on November 30, 1982, it was certified platinum just two months later, according to RIAA.
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John Branca, who is co-executor of the late star’s estate, said: “Thriller continues to be the yardstick against which all other albums are measured”.
