With Michael Jackson’s birthday fast approaching and as a sort of tribute to his remarkable contribution in the world of music, I am making King of Pop special series.

Mainly, this will be devoted on looking back how he started, his struggles and how he made through it all to achieve his worldwide success. Let all of us be inspired on how he made it through and do the same as we go along our individual journey to make a mark in this industry.

THE SECRET TO BLOCKBUSTERS

In the early ’80s, music industry is far different from what music is for Michael Jackson and with his new style, he boosted the music industry and set a new benchmark for blockbusters.

From then on, his songs were continuously on top, got many followers and indeed his album was a huge success. Let me share just one amazing fact, would you believe that “Thriller”, one of his album, was able to be sold more than 1 million copies per month in the United States alone and trucks from the warehouse of Epic records were leaving every few minutes. This phenomenon continues even after a year of its release.

According to the RIAA, until now, “Thriller” still stands as the best-selling studio album in the United States after 27 years after its release which has definitely, 28-times platinum and sold more than 50 million copies have been sold internationally according to estimates.

Looking at the overwhelming sales alone, can make you realize the success of MJ’s album but there are also other factors that contributed for his phenomenon. Jackson was said to be a trendsetter during that time. “Thriller” gave a new benchmark that changed how music business promoted and marketed superstar releases. It was also only then that how they do MTV was improved. Cable network’s eliminates racial barriers and raise the bar for video quality.

Here are more interesting facts about his album, “Thriller” was his first major release to debut worldwide simultaneously, the first album to be worked for close to two years instead of the usual six or eight months and the first album to spin off seven singles to radio–more than double the normal number.

For music industry, Michael Jackson made a vital contribution, “Thriller” gave a much-needed boost to the music business, then suffering from its second slump in three years. At the time, Billboard reported that record shipments had declined by 50 million units between 1980 and 1982.

Living by the trend that he was able to set, other recording companies tried to be at par with what had Epc records had done with MJ’s “Thriller”. Starting in 1984, Columbia released seven singles from Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.,” all of which landed in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Around the same time, Warner Bros. sent to radio five singles from Prince’s “Purple Rain.” Mercury found seven singles on Def Leppard’s “Hysteria,” all of which went to the pop chart. All three albums eventually sold more than 10 million copies each in the United States alone.