Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' Follow-Up Rises To A New Sales Peak

Michael Jackson’s Thriller follow-up, Bad, has climbed to a new peak on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, rising from No. 21 to No. 13 in the latest edition. The Billboard ranking tracks purchases of full-length albums and EPs across digital and physical formats, including CD, cassette and vinyl. Bad reaches its highest position in the rundown nearly 40 years after its original release, and it had debuted on the chart in December 2009, spending 55 weeks as a bestseller in America since then. The album also returns to multiple Billboard lists, reaching No. 8 on the Vinyl Albums chart and re-entering the Top R&B Albums and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums at Nos. 23 and 44. Meanwhile, Bad’s resurgence lifts Jackson’s share of the Top Album Sales chart to nearly 10%, while Thriller falls to No. 8, Number Ones stays at No. 11, and Off the Wall rises to No. 15. The article also notes a separate climb of a Jackson single to No. 1.