Michael Jackson 2001: You Rock My World
 In November 1982, the storybook for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was released. It included Jackson reading the story as well as one original song (Someone in the Dark). The album later won a Grammy for Best Album for Children. On the first day of the following month, Jackson released his second Epic album, Thriller. Thriller became by far the biggest selling album of all time with worldwide sales reaching over 104 million copies.
The album also became the first in history to spawn seven top-ten Billboard Hot 100 hit singles, including Billie Jean, which was the first music video by a black artist to receive regular airplay on MTV, Beat It, and the album's title track, which was accompanied by a revolutionary music video. The thirteen-minute Thriller video was critically acclaimed and massive airplay lead to it being packaged with the featurette Making Michael Jackson's Thriller on VHS, where it became the best-selling music home video ever. Thriller spent 37 weeks at #1 and remained on the Billboard album chart for 122 weeks. It was eventually certified 27x Platinum in the U.S.
In 1983, while performing Billie Jean at the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever concert, Jackson debuted what can be regarded as his signature move: the moonwalk. The performance sparked a new wave of interest in Thriller, which continued to sell well throughout the year. In 1983, he started a sponsorship deal with Pepsi-Cola, and, as part of the deal, he agreed to star in a commercial. While filming the commercial in front of 3,000 fans the following year, a fireworks display behind him malfunctioned, shooting a shower of sparks down upon the singer’s head and setting fire to his hair. He suffered second-degree burns and later wore a hairpiece when collecting Grammys that year.
In February 1984, Jackson was nominated for twelve Grammy awards - of which he won eight - breaking the record for the most Grammy awards won in a single year. Seven were for Thriller and the other for the E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial storybook. In 1984, he also won eight American Music Awards and the Special Award of Merit and three MTV Video Music Awards.
Thriller was a gigantic hit that made Michael Jackson the seminal icon of American culture at the time. At the age of 25, the New York Times called him a musical phenomenon, further commenting that in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else. Time magazine explained that the fallout from Thriller has given the [music] business its best years since the heady days of 1978, when it had an estimated total domestic revenue of $4.1 billion. Thriller also helped to bring music from African-American artists back into mainstream radio for the first time since the mid-1970s.
The album dominated much of the world's conscience in its heyday; as one Soviet high school senior put it, [Michael Jackson's] music is electrifying. His beat is the music of today. The Kremlin disagreed with their citizen, denouncing Michael Jackson as a great show-biz swindle known as 'The Thriller' and accusing the singer of serving the Reagan administration by taking the American people's minds off the country's problems. In May 1984, stores across the country started selling dolls of the superstar, who also became something of a sexual symbol, as he was described by TIME magazine: Undeniably sexy. Absolutely safe. Eroticism at arm's length. Additionally, Michael Jackson's rhinestone glove and Thriller jacket became iconic aspects of his outfits which American youth sported all too eagerly. As a sign of his stature at the time, Republican officials considered inviting Jackson to their national convention, in 1984, where they would renominate Reagan, but a change of plans left Ron Walker, the convention manager, stating that We never thought we had a ghost of a chance.
After reuniting with his brothers, he helped to write and produce the Victory album. He then performed and starred in the Victory Tour, which started on July 6, 1984 and lasted for five months. That year, Jackson was invited to the White House and was thanked by President Ronald Reagan at a White House ceremony for allowing the song Beat It to be used in drunk driving prevention television and radio public service announcements.
Jackson continued his charity work in 1985 by co-writing with Lionel Richie the hit song We Are the World, and singing a featured solo on the charity single. The record helped to raise money and awareness for the famine in East Africa and was one of the first instances where Jackson was seen as a humanitarian. The song also won a Grammy for Song of the Year. We Are the World became one of the top five best-selling singles of all time and the best selling single of the 1980s
Controversy began when Jackson purchased shares in ATV Music Publishing (a company which owned the publishing rights to most of the Beatles' songs), making himself the majority shareholder. This move angered close friend and songwriter Paul McCartney, who had also made a bid for the company. Ironically, it had been McCartney who advised Jackson on the merits of song ownership. Their creative co-writing ended after this event. Following this controversial business deal, tabloid stories of Jackson sleeping in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to stall the aging-process, and an allegation claiming Jackson attempted to purchase the bones of the Elephant Man inspired the pejorative sobriquet Wacko Jacko. The name Wacko Jacko, first used by British media, would come to be detested by Jackson.
In 1986, Jackson starred in the George Lucas-produced, Francis Ford Coppola-directed 3-D film Captain EO. The film lasted 17 minutes but had costs estimated at $17 million. At the time, it was the most expensive film produced on a per-minute basis. In the U.S., the Disney theme parks hosted Captain EO. Disneyland featured the film in Tomorrow-Land from September 18, 1986 until April 7, 1997. It was also featured in Walt Disney World in Epcot from September 12, 1986 until July 6, 1994. Two new songs featured in the film. These were Another Part of Me, which later appeared on Bad, and We Are Here To Change The World, which was officially released in 2004 as part of Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection.
In october 2007, Sony/BMG Internation france released a statement saying it will release a CD/DVD to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Thriller, containing previously unreleased material.
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