Thriller Songwriting Credits by Michael Jackson

Thriller is the sixth solo studio album by Michael Jackson, released in November 1982 on Epic Records and produced by Quincy Jones, the best-selling album in history, with estimated worldwide sales between 66 and 70 million copies, and the record that redefined what commercial popular music could achieve in terms of production, video, choreography, and cross-platform cultural presence. Jackson co-wrote four of the nine tracks, 'Beat It,' 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin',' 'The Lady in My Life,' and 'P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)' (with James Ingram), while Rod Temperton contributed the title track, 'Baby Be Mine,' and 'The Lady in My Life'; Temperton's three contributions represent some of the most commercially precise professional songwriting in pop history. The album spent 37 weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 and generated seven top-ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100, a record for any album at the time, including 'Billie Jean' (number one for seven weeks) and 'Beat It' (which featured a guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen). The 14-minute 'Thriller' music video, directed by John Landis and released in December 1983, is widely cited as the most influential music video ever made and was instrumental in establishing MTV as a commercial force by demonstrating what the medium could accomplish as a narrative art form. Thriller won eight Grammy Awards in 1984, including Album of the Year, and its commercial scale transformed the economics of the music industry by demonstrating the potential revenue attached to a single properly promoted artist and release.