Billie Jean in the context of "Dance-pop"

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is widely regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 20th century. Over a four-decade career, his musical achievements broke American racial barriers and made him a dominant figure worldwide. Through his songs, stages, and fashion, he proliferated visual performance for artists in popular music, popularizing street dance moves such as the moonwalk, the robot, and the anti-gravity lean. Jackson is often deemed the greatest entertainer of all time.

The eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his public debut at age six as the lead singer of the Jackson 5, one of Motown's most successful acts. His breakthrough as a solo artist came with the highly acclaimed album Off the Wall (1979). Jackson achieved unprecedented global success with Thriller (1982), the best-selling album in history. Its short film-style music videos for "Thriller", "Beat It", and "Billie Jean" redefined the medium as an art form. Jackson followed it with Bad (1987), the first album to produce five US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana". In the 1990s, he released the albums Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995). His final album, Invincible (2001), became a 21st-century bestseller.

American singer Michael Jackson is widely regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 20th century. Often considered the greatest entertainer of all time, Jackson broke racial barriers in the United States and profoundly influenced the evolution of pop music, earning him the title of "King of Pop". He is one of the best-selling music artists in history, having sold over 500 million records worldwide. His unparalleled success spans multiple decades, with numerous albums that rank amongst the best-selling of all time, such as Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE - BOOK I (1995); Thriller remains the best-selling album in history. Guinness World Records named him the most successful entertainer of all time. His achievements in the 1980s helped desegregation of popular music in the United States and introduced an era of multiculturalism globally. Through his dance, fashion and redefinition of music videos, Jackson proliferated visual performance for musical artists. Credited for influencing hundreds of musicians, his songs are among the most covered and sampled in music history. His influence extended to inspiring a vast array of trends and raising awareness for social causes around the world; as a result, Jackson is widely regarded as one of the most famous figures in history. Before he died, Jackson was received by over 30 world leaders. Jackson's global brand resulted in celebrity products and commemorations such as video games, documentaries, and monuments.

Popularity of Michael Jackson began as a child star in the 1960s, his introduction as the lead singer of the Jackson 5, a band formed with his older brothers. The group was recognized by U.S. Congress for their contribution to American youth culture, and Jackson was embraced by the American public to a degree not afforded a child star since the height of Shirley Temple in the 1930s. In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular culture and the first African-American entertainer to have a strong crossover fanbase on music television. As he became a rising solo star, his music videos, including those for "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller" from his album Thriller (1982), are credited with breaking several racial barriers both in the United States and worldwide, transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. The popularity of these videos helped bring the television channel MTV to fame. Prior to Thriller, timely layoffs were occurring for radio and music record companies, who both suffered during a four year unemployment high between 1978 and 1982 due to the early 1980s recession. Jackson's world record sales and achievements are credited with revolutionizing the music industry by initiating marketing plans on blockbuster albums with an emphasis on video presentation focus going forward.

The moonwalk, or backslide, is a popping dance move in which the performer glides backwards but their body actions suggest forward motion. It became popular around the world when American singer Michael Jackson performed the move during the performance of "Billie Jean" on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, which was broadcast in 1983; he later incorporated it in tours and live performances. Jackson has been credited as renaming the "backslide" to the moonwalk and it became his signature move.

Thriller is the sixth studio album by the American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson, released on November 29, 1982, by Epic Records. It was produced by Quincy Jones, who previously worked with Jackson on his album Off the Wall (1979). Recording took place from April to November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a budget of $750,000 (equivalent to $2,443,707 in 2024). With the ongoing backlash against disco music, Jackson moved in a new musical direction, resulting in darker themes and a mix of genres, including rock for the first time. Paul McCartney appears as the first credited featured artist on a Jackson album.

Thriller was praised by critics and soon attracted greater acclaim. It was Jackson's first number-one album on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, and stood atop for a record 37 non-consecutive weeks. The album's second and third singles, "Billie Jean" and "Beat It", topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while "The Girl Is Mine", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "Human Nature", "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", and "Thriller" also reached the Top 10, setting a record for the most Top 10 hits from one album. Sales of Thriller surged after Jackson debuted his signature moonwalk dance in Motown 25 and the "Thriller" music video premiered on MTV, and by 1984 it had sold 32 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling album of all time.

American singer Michael Jackson (1958–2009) debuted on the professional music scene at age five as a member of the American family music group The Jackson 5 and began a solo career in 1971 while still part of the group. Jackson promoted seven of his solo albums with music videos or, as he would refer to them, "short films". Some of them drew criticism for their violent and sexual elements while others were lauded by critics and awarded Guinness World Records for their length, success, and cost.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular culture and the first African-American entertainer to have a strong crossover fanbase on MTV. The popularity of his music videos that aired on MTV such as "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and "Thriller"—credited for transforming the music video from a promotional tool into an art form—helped bring fame to the relatively new channel. The success of these music videos helped shift MTV's focus from its original "rock 'n' roll only" format to pop and R&B and saved the channel from financial ruin.Michael Jackson's "Thriller" short film marked a growth in scale for music videos and has been named the most successful music video ever by the Guinness World Records.The 18-minute music video for "Bad", directed by Martin Scorsese, depicts Jackson and Wesley Snipes as members of an inner-city gang. Jackson paid cinematic tribute to West Side Story with the choreography. For the "Smooth Criminal" video, Jackson experimented with an anti-gravity lean, in which the performer leans forward at a 45-degree angle, beyond their center of gravity. Although the music video for "Leave Me Alone" was not officially released in the United States, it won a Golden Lion Award in 1989 for the quality of the special effects used in its production and a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Short Form in 1990. Jackson received the MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1988, which was renamed the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award in his honor in 1991. He won the MTV Video Vanguard Artist of the Decade Award in 1990.

"Beat It" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson from his sixth studio album, Thriller (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson, produced by Quincy Jones, and co-produced by Jackson. Jones encouraged Jackson to include a rock song similar to “My Sharona” on the album. Jackson later said: "I wanted to write a song, the type of song that I would buy if I were to buy a rock song... And I wanted the children to really enjoy it — the school children as well as the college students." It includes a guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen.

Following the successful Thriller singles "The Girl Is Mine" and "Billie Jean", "Beat It" was released on February 21, 1983, as the album's third single. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, staying there for three weeks. It also charted at number one on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart. Billboard ranked the song No. 5 for 1983. It is certified 8× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Beat It" was a number one hit in Europe, reaching number one in Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. With sales of over 10 million worldwide, "Beat It" is one of the best-selling songs of all time.