Michael Jackson‍‍`s ‍‍`Thriller‍‍` returns to Billboard top 5 after 42 years

Michael Jackson‍‍`s Thriller has reclaimed the top spot on Billboard‍‍`s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for the first time since 1984, pushed by the streaming surge that followed the Michael biopic‍‍`s April 24 premiere.

The album earned 62,000 equivalent album units during the tracking week of May 1-7, a 36 percent jump from the 45,000 units it posted the prior week, according to Billboard.

Streaming activity accounted for 48,000 of those units, equal to 50.3 million official on-demand audio and video streams, according to data platform Luminate. Traditional album sales contributed another 13,000 units.

The May 16 return marks Thriller‍‍`s 38th total week at No. 1 on the ranking, extending its own record for the most weeks atop the chart by a male artist.

The album originally spent 37 consecutive weeks at No. 1 in 1983-84 after its November 1982 release, a record that stood for 42 years until SZA‍‍`s SOS surpassed it in June 2025. SOS holds the overall chart record with 46 weeks at No. 1.

The biopic‍‍`s impact stretched beyond Thriller. Jackson‍‍`s 2003 best-of collection Number Ones jumped from No. 5 to No. 2 the same week, also logging 62,000 equivalent album units. That makes Jackson the first artist to hold the top two positions on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart simultaneously since Future and Metro Boomin did so for three straight weeks in April-May 2024.

Chart watcher Simone Del Niro noted that the return to No. 1 makes Jackson the first artist to reach the top of the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in each of the last six decades.

The catalog resurgence carried over to the Hot 100, as well. "Billie Jean" moved from No. 38 to No. 17, while "Human Nature" reentered at No. 29, "Beat It" at No. 32, and "Don‍‍`t Stop ‍‍`til You Get Enough" at No. 42 on the chart dated May 16.

The Michael biopic, meanwhile, crossed $500 million in global box office grosses, becoming only the second music biopic to reach that threshold.