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) becoming the best-selling non compilation album of all time: Jackson's dancing feet and dazzling stage presence, amplified by the newfound promotional reach of music video and the Reagan era's embrace of glossy celebrity. But especially in the album's seven hit singles (out of nine songs), the music stands on its own." Sputnikmusic reviewer Tyler Fisher wrote that "Thriller" "stands one of Jackson's greatest efforts, giving him an eternal legacy in pop music." Culture critic Nelson George wrote that Jackson "has educated R. Kelly, Usher, Justin Timberlake and countless others with "Thriller" as a textbook". As a sign of the album's