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- See also: Victory Tour and We Are the World
In November 1982 the storybook for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was released, including Jackson's song "Someone in the Dark"; the record won a Grammy for Best Album for Children.[18] A few weeks later Jackson issued his second Epic album, Thriller; it is one of only three albums to remain in the top ten of the Billboard 200 for a full year, spending eighty consecutive weeks there and thirty-seven of those weeks at number one. It was also the first of three albums to have seven Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 singles and the only album to be the best-seller in the United States for two years (1983–1984). Thriller has been certified 27x platinum by the RIAA,[19] giving it Double Diamond Award status in the U.S.,[20] and sold 3.7 million copies in the United Kingdom.[21] The album reached Diamond or Multi-Platinum status in a plethora of countries as well, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand,[22] and Spain.[20]
Still popular today, Thriller sells an estimated 130,000 copies in the U.S. per year, reaching number two on the U.S. Catalog charts in February 2003 and number 39 in the U.K. in March 2007.[23] Though sales figures vary with different sources, the album is cited as selling between forty-five million and over one hundred million copies worldwide.[24][25] According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Thriller sold sixty-five million copies as of 2007.[26]
The album also became the first in history to spawn seven Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit singles,[27] including "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and the album's title track, all of which were accompanied by music videos. "Billie Jean"'s video was the first by a black artist to receive regular airplay on MTV.[28] The thirteen-minute "Thriller" video was critically acclaimed and had massive airplay. It was packaged with the featurette Making Michael Jackson's Thriller on VHS, where it became the best-selling music home video ever.[27]
On March 25, 1983 Jackson performed "Billie Jean" live on the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television special. Debuting his signature move — the moonwalk — his performances during the event led many to perceive him as one of the greatest dancers of all time. The performance was extraordinarily popular, with over 47 million views of the first televised airing. His performance was often compared to Elvis Presley and the The Beatles appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show.[29] A minor incident occured on January 27, 1984, however; Jackson began filming two Pepsi Cola commercials in front of a simulated live audience at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. As he descended from a podium, fireworks set his hair alight, and he was taken out of the building on a stretcher in front of the public and photographers. The accident was the subject of heavy media scrutiny, with Jackson receiving sympathy from the public and fellow celebrities.[30] Jackson was first viewed as a humanitarian following his burning accident with Pepsi when the cola manufacturer gave Jackson $1.5 million, an out of court settlement that he donated to the Michael Jackson Burn Centre.[31]
On May 14, 1984 Jackson was invited to the White House to receive an award presented by President Ronald Reagan. The event, notable because an African-American met a Republican president at the White House in the 1980s, was seen as a positive move forward in social views towards race.[32] Thriller put black music on U.S. radio for the first time in years, paving the way for other acts, such as that of Prince.[33]
Jackson won eight awards during the 1984 Grammys (in 2008, the Thriller album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame).[17] Unlike later albums, Thriller did not have an official tour to promote it, but the "Jacksons 5's" Victory Tour, which began on July 6, 1984, showcased much of Jackson's new solo material to more than 2 million Americans.[34] He donated his $5 million share from the Victory Tour to charity.[35] The following year, on March 7, the charity single "We Are the World" was released worldwide to aid people in Africa and the United States. Written primarily by Jackson with help from Lionel Richie, it became one of the best-selling singles of all time, with nearly 20 million copies sold and millions of dollars raised for charity. It was the first instance where Jackson became seen as a humanitarian.[36]
Thriller was an enormous hit that made Jackson the seminal icon of American culture at the time. At the age of 25, the New York Times called him a "musical phenomenon," further commenting that "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else."[37] Time magazine argued that "the fallout from Thriller has given the [music] business its best years since the heady days of 1978."[38]
Stories of Jackson sleeping in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to stall the human process of aging, and allegations that Jackson attempted to purchase the bones of the Elephant Man, began surfacing in tabloids around this time. These inspired the pejorative epithet "Wacko Jacko," a name that Jackson would acquire the following year and came to despise.[39][40]
In 1986, Jackson starred in the George Lucas-produced, Francis Ford Coppola-directed 3-D film Captain EO. It was the most expensive film produced on a per-minute basis at the time, and was later hosted in some Disney theme parks. Disneyland featured the film in its Tomorrowland area for nearly eleven years, while Walt Disney World screened the film in its Epcot theme park from 1986 to 1994.
