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Michael Jackson’s Thriller Returns to No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums for the First Time Since 1984
Thriller returns to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, powered by a streaming surge tied to the Michael biopic.
Michael Jackson is back at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Thriller returns to the top spot on the chart dated May 16, giving the album its 38th week at No. 1 and its first turn atop the list since 1984.
The rebound comes after the Michael biopic drove a major streaming lift across Jackson’s catalog. According to Luminate, Thriller earned 62,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the tracking week of May 1-7, up 36% from 45,000 units the week before. Streaming accounted for 48,000 of those units, equal to 50.3 million official on-demand audio and video streams. Album sales added 13,000 units, while track-equivalent albums made up the remaining 1,000.
Released in November 1982, Thriller is the world’s best-selling album, per Guinness, and the highest-certified studio album in the U.S. from the RIAA. In its original run, the album dominated the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for 37 weeks in 1983 and 1984, powered by singles including “Billie Jean,” “Beat It” and the title track. That mark stood for 41 years until SZA’s SOS, helped by SOS Deluxe: LANA, passed it in June 2025.
Jackson now holds the record for the most No. 1 weeks among male artists on the chart. Thriller is second overall only to SOS, which has spent 46 weeks at No. 1.
His 2003 compilation Number Ones pushes from No. 5 to No. 2 this week with 62,000 equivalent album units, giving Jackson the top two positions on the chart at the same time. It is the first time any artist has done that since Future and Metro Boomin placed We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You in the top two for three straight weeks in April and May 2024. Outside of rap acts, the last artist to manage it was The Temptations, who did it on Feb. 22, 1969 with TCB, a collaborative album with The Supremes, and Live at the Copa.
Chart watcher Simone Del Niro notes that Jackson, who died in 2009, is now the first artist to hit No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in each of the last six calendar decades. His chart history by decade now runs from Off the Wall in the 1970s and 1980s, through Dangerous, HIStory: Past, Present and Future Book 1, Invincible, Michael Jackson’s This Is It Soundtrack, Michael, and Xscape, before Thriller returns in the 2020s.
The streaming surge is also showing up on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, where Jackson has 13 titles inside the top 25. “Billie Jean” rises from No. 5 to No. 3, while “Human Nature” climbs 10-6, “Beat It” moves 9-7, and “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough” improves 11-9. “Bad” re-enters at No. 19, “You Rock My World” lands at No. 22, and “Chicago,” from 2014’s Xscape, returns at No. 23 despite not being tied to the film. Its placement on Jackson’s Spotify artist page, where it often appears in his top 10, and an Internet clip of animated birds dancing to the track are helping keep it in circulation.
Jackson’s full showing on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs this week includes “Billie Jean” at No. 3, “Human Nature” at No. 6, “Beat It” at No. 7, “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough” at No. 9, “Rock With You” at No. 12, “Dirty Diana” at No. 13, “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” at No. 15, “Smooth Criminal” at No. 16, “The Way You Make Me Feel” at No. 17, “Bad” at No. 19, “Remember the Time” at No. 21, “You Rock My World” at No. 22, and “Chicago” at No. 23.
