For the second time this year, Michael Jackson’s landmark album Thriller glides to the top of the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart after a mass pop-culture moment.
Unlike the wider spring and summer cycle sparked from the Michael biopic, the latest surge largely centers on one song, the album’s title track, after gains from the Halloween holiday.
Thriller, on the Epic/Legacy record labels, tops the chart dated Nov. 14, rising three spots to crown the list. For its latest coronation, the set earned 55,000 equivalent album units for the Oct. 29 – Nov. 5 tracking week, according to Luminate, an 89% improvement from 29,000 units in the week prior.
Streaming activity contributed 32,000 units of the sum (a figure representing 34.2 million official on-demand streams of the album’s songs), traditional album sums provided 22,000 units and 1,000 units were from track-equivalent album units. (One unit equals the following levels of consumption: one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 1,000 paid/subscription tier or 2,500 ad-supported tier official on-demand audio and video streams for a song on the album.)
With its return, Thriller achieves a 40th week at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, following two weeks at No. 1 in May in the wake of post-Michael mania. The landmark 1982 release, often cited as the best-selling album of all time, held the record for most weeks at No. 1 on the chart from 1984 until 2025, when SZA’s SOS took the title. Thriller narrows the gap with SOS, which remains in first place with 46 weeks on top, having most recently topped the ranking in January.
Here’s a review of the longest leaders on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums:
46, SOS, SZA, 2022-26
40, Thriller, Michael Jackson, 1983-84; 2026
29, Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em, M.C. Hammer, 1990
26, Just Like the First Time, Freddie Jackson, 1986-87
23, Can’t Slow Down, Lionel Richie, 1983-84
20, Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder, 1976-77
20, Street Songs, Rick James, 1981
20, Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon, Pop Smoke, 2020-21
Additionally, Thriller’s new frame gives the King of Pop a 101st career week at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, the second-most of all acts since the chart’s launch in 1965. He trails only former Motown labelmates The Temptations, who have posted a record 109 weeks in the penthouse.
Elsewhere, Thriller crowns the Top R&B Albums chart for an 18th week with a 3-1 ascent, while it races 13-2 on the all-genre Billboard 200. On the latter, it achieves its highest rank since 1984, the year it wrapped its 37 weeks atop the list, the most for an album by a single artist.
