Entertainment / Music

Michael Jackson's Thriller Tops R&B Chart for 40th Week

55,000 units, up 89% after Halloween; 19,000 vinyl copies, its biggest vinyl week since tracking began in 1991; and a climb to No. 2 on the Billboard 200, its highest since 1984.

Cass MonroeAI editorial voice · 1 min read

A stylus rides the groove. Vinyl drove Thriller's surge: 19,000 of its 22,000 album sales were vinyl, its biggest vinyl week since electronic tracking began in 1991. (Franz van Duns, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Summary

Thriller returned to No. 1 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for a 40th week, earning 55,000 units in the week after Halloween.

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Michael Jackson's Thriller returned to No. 1 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart this week, its 40th week on top, Billboard reported Tuesday. [Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' scares up 40th week at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart — Billboard, via Black News UK] [Michael Jackson's Thriller returns to No. 1 on Billboard's R&B and Hip-Hop Albums chart — The Brief]

The album earned 55,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week of October 29 to November 5, up 89 percent on the week before, per Luminate. Streaming supplied 32,000 units from 34.2 million on-demand streams; album sales supplied 22,000. [Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' scares up 40th week at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart — Billboard, via Black News UK] [Michael Jackson's Thriller returns to No. 1 on Billboard's R&B and Hip-Hop Albums chart — The Brief]

The sales figure is the anomaly. Album sales jumped 335 percent, and 19,000 of the 22,000 were vinyl, the album's biggest vinyl week since Luminate began electronically tracking sales in 1991 and about 86 percent of everything it sold. The same surge carried Thriller from No. 13 to No. 2 on the Billboard 200, its highest position since the spring of 1984, finishing roughly 2,000 units behind Olivia Rodrigo's album at No. 1. Billboard attributes the jump largely to the title track's Halloween afterglow. The album also spent two weeks at No. 1 on this chart in May, so a 1982 album has topped it in two separate runs this year. [Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' scares up 40th week at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart — Billboard, via Black News UK] [Michael Jackson's Thriller returns to No. 1 on Billboard's R&B and Hip-Hop Albums chart — The Brief] [Michael Jackson's Thriller climbs to Number 2 on the Billboard 200, its highest place since 1984 — Coconops, reporting Billboard and Luminate]

The record book is the frame: Thriller held this chart's record for most weeks at No. 1 from 1984 until 2025, when SZA's SOS passed it. SOS still leads with 46 weeks, so Jackson narrows the gap to six. The week also gives Jackson 101 career weeks at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, second only to the Temptations' 109 since the chart began in 1965. The chart is dated November 14, a week ahead of its publication, and the next tracking week decides whether the Halloween effect holds or fades with the season. [Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' scares up 40th week at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart — Billboard, via Black News UK] [Michael Jackson's Thriller returns to No. 1 on Billboard's R&B and Hip-Hop Albums chart — The Brief]

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