<P> Rockwell nonetheless deemed Thriller "a wonderful pop record, the latest statement by one of the great singers in popular music today" and that there are "hits here, too, lots of them". Rockwell believed it helped breach "the destructive barriers that spring up regularly between white and black music", especially as "white publications and radio stations that normally avoid black music seem willing to pretend he isn't black after all". In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said "this is virtually a hits - plus - filler job, but at such a high level it's almost classic anyway". He later wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: The' 80s (1990), "what we couldn't know is how brilliantly every hit but' P.Y.T.' would thrive on mass exposure and public pleasure ." </P> <P> A year after the album's release, Time summed up the three main singles from the album, saying, "The pulse of America and much of the rest of the world moves irregularly, beating in time to the tough strut of' Billie Jean', the asphalt aria of' Beat It', the supremely cool chills of' Thriller' ." In 1989, Toronto Star music critics reflected on the albums they had reviewed in the past ten years in order to create a list judging them on the basis of "commercial impact to social import, to strictly musical merit ." Thriller was placed at number 1 on the list, where it was referred to as his "master work" and that "commercial success has since overshadowed Jackson's artistic accomplishments on Thriller, and that's a pity . It was a record for the times, brimming with breathless anticipation and a dread fear of the adult world, a brilliant fantasy that pumped with sexual heat, yet made room for serious reflection". </P> <P> The album won a record - breaking eight Grammy Awards in 1984, including Album of the Year . Jackson won seven of the Grammys for the album, while the eighth Grammy went to Bruce Swedien . That same year, Jackson won eight American Music Awards, the Special Award of Merit and three MTV Video Music Awards . Thriller was recognized as the world's best - selling album on February 7, 1984, when it was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records . It is one of four albums to be the best - seller of two years (1983--1984) in the US . </P> <P> On December 16, 2015, Thriller was certified 30 × platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of at least 30 million units in the US . After the inclusion of streaming and tracks sales into the RIAA album awards in 2017, Thriller was re-certified 33 × platinum for a total of 33 million album - equivalent units . The album topped the charts in many countries, sold 4.2 million copies in the UK, 2.5 million in Japan, and was certified 15 × Platinum in Australia . Still popular today, Thriller sells an estimated 130,000 copies in the US per year; it reached number two in the US Catalog charts in February 2003 and number 39 in the UK in March 2007 . </P>

When did thriller became the best selling album