Thriller (Michael Jackson album) video that would appeal to the mass market ended up influencing the way that professionals now market and release their songs. John Landis' production of a mini-movie, rather than the usual short music video, would raise the bar for other directors and producers. Before the success of "Thriller", many felt Jackson had struggled to get MTV airing because he was black. In an effort to attain air time for Jackson, CBS Records President Walter Yetnikoff pressured MTV and declared, "I'm not going to give you any more videos and I'm going to go public and fucking tell them about the
Thriller (Michael Jackson album) selling three million copies worldwide in 12 weeks. After Jackson's death in June 2009, "Thriller" set additional records. It sold more than 100,000 copies, placing it at number two on the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart. Songs from "Thriller" also helped Jackson become the first artist to sell more than one million song downloads in a week. According to Nielsen SoundScan, "Thriller" was the 14th best-selling album of 2009 in the United States, with 1.27 million copies sold. For one week beginning November 20, 2015, Google Play Music offered a free copy of the album to its users in the