Thriller (Michael Jackson album) and John Landis. Funded by MTV, the film sold over 350,000 copies in its first few months. In a market then driven by singles, "Thriller" raised the significance of albums, yet its multiple hit singles changed perceived notions as to the number of successful singles that could be taken from an individual album. The era saw the arrival of novelties like the Michael Jackson doll, that appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12 (US$ in dollars). "Thriller" retains a position in American culture; biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli explains, "At some point, "Thriller" stopped selling like a
Michael Jackson in 1983. The zombie-themed video "defined music videos and broke racial barriers" on the Music Television Channel (MTV), a fledgling entertainment television channel at the time. In December 2009, the Library of Congress selected the "Thriller" music video for inclusion in the National Film Registry. It was one of 25 films named that year as "works of enduring importance to American culture" that would be "preserved for all time." As of 2009, "Thriller" is the only music video to have been inducted into the registry. Jackson had the highest royalty rate in the music industry at that point, approximately $2