Nine Lives and Counting: The 42-Year Journey of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ From No. 4 to No. 2

Why the King of Pop’s Most Famous Halloween Hit Fell Short in 1984 — And How Nine Top 40 Runs Finally Took It Higher

(November 11, 2026) – By now, you’ve probably heard that Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” has accomplished something it couldn’t manage when the King of Pop was at the height of his powers in 1984: climb higher than No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

Forty-two years after its original chart run, the Halloween perennial has reached No. 2 on the chart dated November 14, giving Jackson his highest-charting single since 1995.  It’s also the song’s ninth separate Top 40 appearance — an extraordinary feat for a recording that first entered the chart when Ronald Reagan was president and MTV was barely three years old.

But here’s the part worth revisiting: Why did one of the most iconic recordings of the 1980s — accompanied by arguably the most famous music video ever made — fail to reach No. 1 in the first place?

And how did a song that peaked at No. 4 during the height of Thriller-mania become an even bigger chart hit 42 years later?

What Happened in 1984?

In the first half of 1984, Michael Jackson was the undisputed King of Pop.  His Thriller album was rapidly becoming the biggest-selling album phenomenon in music history and its title track was terrorizing neighborhoods with one of the most iconic music videos ever made.  Yet, for all that success, “Thriller” – the single – never climbed higher than No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

When “Thriller” was released in stores as a vinyl single – a requirement back then for a song to be eligible for the Hot 100 – it was the seventh release from its titular album.  That album had been in stores for 14 months and was well on its way to becoming the biggest seller of all time.  Jackson’s label – Epic Records – had not originally planned to release “Thriller,” considering the song to be somewhat of a novelty (I agreed).

Conventional wisdom then was that four or maybe five singles was the maximum from an album during its release cycle.  Legend has it that it was Michael himself who encouraged his management to get behind a “Thriller” video to pump up sales of the album which had been waning during the second half of 1983 after the popularity of earlier singles had subsided.

The “Thriller” video was released well after Halloween on December 2, 1983, while the album’s sixth single “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” was still near the top ten.  Additionally, Jackson’s non-Thriller single with Paul McCartney – “Say Say Say” – was at No. 2 and a week shy of beginning a six-week run at No. 1.  Clearly, Jackson was enjoying heavy rotation at radio, and the label was reluctant to risk oversaturation by releasing “Thriller” while the other singles were still high on the chart.  By the time Epic Records gave the OK for a “Thriller” single in late January 1984, much of the hype had passed.  The video was nearly two months old and many of Jackson’s fans had already purchased the album.

Still, based on lingering high demand and radio play, “Thriller” made the highest debut on the Hot 100 since 1971 (John Lennon’s “Imagine”) when it entered at No. 20 on the chart dated February 11, 1984.  It leapt to No. 7 the following week and ultimately ran out of steam at No. 4, where it peaked behind Van Halen’s megahit, “Jump,” Nena’s “99 Luftballons,” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”  Had Epic released “Thriller” closer to the video’s December premiere, it might have reached No. 1 — possibly even competing with Jackson’s own “Say Say Say” for chart supremacy.

Thriller’s Annual Halloween Resurgence

Beginning in 2013, “Thriller” has made perennial returns to the Hot 100, including eight additional trips into the Top 40 — fueled by Halloween and the rise of streaming.  In 2013, 2015, 2019, and 2020, the song returned to the Hot 100 but peaked outside the Top 40.  In 2014, 2018, and every year since 2021, the song has returned to the Top 40 and, in 2025, made the top ten for the first time since 1984.

Even more remarkable was the fact that Halloween occurred on a Saturday in 2026, just the second day of the tracking window for the Nov. 14-dated Hot 100.  Had it occurred later, allowing for more of the buildup to Halloween to be included in the tracking week, “Thriller” might have amassed even more points and challenged Ella Langley’s juggernaut, “Choosin’ Texas,” for No. 1.

It is also worth pointing out that with the lack of new superstar product on the market and with streaming numbers being distributed more broadly between millions of songs, chart points for songs in the top ten are significantly lower than they were in previous years, allowing for high impact holiday perennials — like “Thriller” — to achieve higher heights than they might have otherwise.

Here is a breakdown of “Thriller’s” Hot 100 performance since its January 1984 debut.  

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of “Thriller’s” nine Top 40 lives is that the song has achieved progressively higher annual peaks since 2022 — climbing from No. 26 that year to No. 21, No. 20, No. 10, and now No. 2. Most hits exhaust their chart potential during their original release cycles. “Thriller,” on the other hand, has spent the past five Halloweens expanding its own chart ceiling.

In the minds of many, “Thriller” was already a No. 1 hit.  It is among Jackson’s most popular songs and its video is considered among the greatest – if not the greatest – of all time.  It is Jackson’s most-charted song with 13 Hot 100 visits since its original release.  No other recording in the King of Pop’s catalog comes close.

The single’s new peak is only part of Michael Jackson’s phenomenal 2026.  The Thriller album and a hits compilation have taken up residence in the Top 20 of the Billboard 200 for months since the record-setting Michael biopic was released in April.  Thriller, the album, also rebounded to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 dated Nov. 14 – its highest position since April 1984 – to coincide with the single’s new peak.  Six of his older hits (aside from “Thriller”) returned to the Hot 100 this spring and a seventh – “Chicago” – made its first-ever chart appearance in June.

Forty-two years after it first scared its way into the Top 10, and after four straight years of reaching higher peaks, “Thriller” has never been closer to No. 1.  And with Halloween coming around every year, Michael Jackson may yet have the last ghoulish laugh — or the last ghastly scream.

DJRob

DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff!  You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.

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