Most everybody knows that Michael Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best selling studio album of all time. It has gone 28x Platinum in the US and has worldwide sales over 100 million. Even more than it's commercial success, the album had a major impact on the music industry as well. There is a great article at Billboard.com which is titled "How Michael Jackson's Thriller Changed the Music Business" and it is well worth reading. Click on that link to take you the article.

An incredible 7 of the 9 songs from Thriller were top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and the album won a record 8 Grammy's as well. Despite that, only two of those seven songs ("Billie Jean" and "Beat It") made it all the way to #1 on the charts. Do you know what album holds the record for most #1 singles? Here's a hint, it is another album by the King of Pop. Yes, the 1987 album Bad holds the distinction of having a record-breaking five #1 singles coming from the one album.

That is pretty incredible to me and proves that Jackson deserved the title of King of Pop back in the 80s. The five songs from Bad to all reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 include:
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (September, 1987)
"Bad" (October, 1987)
"The Way You Make Me Feel" (January, 1988)
"Man in the Mirror" (March, 1988)
"Dirty Diana" (July, 1988)

All of those except "Bad" rank on my Top Michael Jackson Songs from the 80s list. If you go to that list, there are video links for each song.

So Bad holds the record for most #1 singles, but there are four other albums from the 80s tied for second with four #1 singles each. Here are the details on those albums.

Whitney by Whitney Houston was the first album by a female artist ever to debut at #1 on the Billboard Album chart when it was released in 1987. After having three straight #1 singles from her debut album, Houston would break a record held by the Beatles and Bee Gees with 7 consecutive #1 singles. The four from this album include:
"I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" [link to video]
"Didn't We Almost Have It All"
"So Emotional"
"Where Do Broken Hearts Go"

Faith by George Michael was also released in 1987 along with Whitney and Bad. It would have also had five #1 singles if "I Want Your Sex" would not have stalled at #2. Here are the four that did make it all the way to #1:
"Faith" [link to video] - Also included on my list of Best 80s Songs with One Word Titles list
"Father Figure"
"One More Try"
"Monkey"

The last two were at the end of the decade and carried forward into the early 90s. Forever Your Girl by Paula Abdul was released in 1989 and also just missed a fifth #1 single when "The Way That You Love Me" could not get higher than #3. The four songs that did make it to the top include:
"Straight Up" [link to video] - Also included on my Top 80s Songs with the Word 'UP' in the Title list
"Forever Your Girl"
"Cold Hearted"
"Opposites Attract"

Last, is Michael's little sister. Janet Jackson's 1989 album Rhythm Nation 1814 was a huge success lasting all the way until 1991. The album generated an amazing seven Top 5 singles. If two songs that stopped at #2 ("Rhythm Nation" and "Come Back Home") would have made it to #1, that would have made 6 and would have broken her brother's record. Here are the four that did make it to #1:
"Miss You Much" [link to video]
"Escapade"
"Black Cat"
"Love Will Never Do"

Those are some impressive albums and all of them were released in my favorite decade. There is a link to a video for at least one of the songs from each album, but I am sure you can find the others if you really want to. Before Thriller, most albums did not even release enough singles to have this sort of success. After Thriller, it became much more normal in 1984 with Springsteen's Born in the USA releasing seven singles, Prince's Purple Rain releasing five and Def Leppard's Hysteria releasing seven. This paved the way for the big albums of 1987 to have the success documented above. Just another example of the tremendous impact that Michael Jackson had on pop music in the 80s.

That will wrap up this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: Here is another example of strange billboard placement. This time it is not necessarily the subject matter of the advertising, but pictures that end up side by side. Now I am sure this girl from The Sweat Zone is in pretty good shape, but I don't think she can handle that carrot pointed at her rear end right now. I don't think her thirst it quite that giant. It made me chuckle, so I hope it does the same for you.

Quote of the day: "Don't let other people tell you what you want." -Pat Riley