The "Thriller" album of Michael Jackson is officially the first one ever to sell 30 million copies. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) confirmed this news last December 16 with Jackson's estate and record labels namely Epic Records and Legacy Recordings.
Billboard shared that this latest milestone continues the title of the late great artist as the most selling artist of all time. Jackson obtained the reign with more than 100 million sales for "Thriller" around the world plus one billion sales to his credit.
"RIAA has awarded gold and platinum records on behalf of the music business for nearly 60 years, but this is the first time an artist has crossed the 30 times multi-platinum plateau," RIAA CEO and chairman Cary Sherman said.
She added that this new record-breaking event is truly an evidence of how "Thriller" will always have a lasting mark not only in the musical history but in the hearts of the people. According to Rolling Stone, the said album has already had a long thread of milestones in terms of sales.
RIAA stated that "Thriller" became certified platinum on January 31, 1983 just a few months after its release in November 30 the previous year. Its hit singles such as "Billie Jean," "The Girl Is Mine" and "Beat It" were considered the strength of the album. Then, it was certified 20 times platinum two years after on October 30, 1984. It continued setting achievements as the latest one was being able to surpass the 29 times platinum brink on August 21, 2009. This was less than two months since the superstar passed away.
"It is crystal clear that Michael Jackson is simply the greatest, and biggest artist of all time...'Thriller' was groundbreaking and electrifying; it was perfection," Epic Records CEO and chairman L.A. Reid said.
He further described that not only Jackson's hits, charts and sales statistics are astounding, but his pure musicality was ethereal. This was proven as even after Jackson's death, his last and posthumous album "Xscape" managed to top the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and rank second on the Billboard 200 chart, Latin Post reported. The said album was released on May 13, 2014 with hit singles "Love Never Felt So Good" and "A Place with No Name."
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