NEW YORK, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Thriller 25 -- the newly-expanded deluxe 25th anniversary edition of Michael Jackson's Thriller, the world's best-selling album of all-time -- is America's #2 Top-Selling Album this week, more than a quarter century after the album's original release. Already shaping up as one of the hottest albums of 2008, Thriller 25 has rocketed into the Top 5 (or better) in a variety of territories across the planet following its worldwide release the week of February 11.

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With first week's sales in the United States totaling 165,805 units, Thriller 25 enters the Billboard Top Pop Catalog chart at #1. (During the past 52 week period, the average first week's sales for an album hitting #1 on the Top Pop Catalog chart has been 16.6 thousand pieces; Thriller 25 entered the chart with 10x that number. Because of a technicality in the rules of Billboard charting, Thriller 25 is ineligible to chart on the Top 200. Based on first week's sales, Thriller 25, if eligible, would have entered the Top 200 at #2, nestled between Jack Johnson at #1 and Amy Winehouse at #3.)

Michael Jackson's iconic music film for "Thriller" is currently the #1 music video download on iTunes.

With more than one million copies of Thriller 25 shipped around the world, and re-orders already flooding in, the new edition of Michael Jackson's classic collection has hit #1 in France; #1 in Belgium; #2 in Germany; #2 in Australia; #2 in the Netherlands; #2 in Norway (Thriller's highest position ever in that country); #2 in Sweden; #2 in Switzerland; #3 in the UK; #3 in Denmark; #3 in New Zealand; #4 in Spain; #5 in Austria; #5 in Ireland; #6 in the Czech Republic; and #6 in Italy.

Global response to the release of Thriller 25, the newly expanded deluxe 25th anniversary edition of Michael Jackson's Thriller, the world's top- selling album of all-time, reached a fever pitch across the planet with surprise hit singles, an ongoing 40-episode "ThrillerCast" podcast event, the premiere of the "Thrillicious" Sobe Life Water ad campaign at the Super Bowl, the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to Michael Jackson at the NRJ Music Awards at Cannes and a host of upcoming events and surprises.

In one of the most groundbreaking aspects of the Thriller 25 campaign, fans will soon be able to go online and star in Michael's signature "Thriller" video. Using newly developed technology from innovative media company Big Stage, fans can create photo-realistic 3-D avatars of themselves to be inserted into Michael's role in the classic clip. (Full details TBA.)

The Michael Jackson Thriller 25th anniversary celebration runs throughout 2008 with a multi-faceted global marketing campaign featuring high-profile television, radio and online events around the world and the major re-launch of Michael's official website, www.michaeljackson.com

Originally released in the US on November 30, 1982 by Epic Records, Thriller, Michael Jackson's sixth solo album and second with producer Quincy Jones, first entered the Billboard Top 200 album chart at #11 in December 1982. The original Thriller went on to spend an astounding 80 consecutive weeks in the American Top 10, 37 of those at #1, while making history as the first and only record to be America's top-selling album two years running (1983 and 1984). Thriller has been certified 27x platinum by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond Award status in the US. In 1985, the Guinness Book of Records named Thriller the Best Selling Album of All Time, an achievement which remains unsurpassed to this day.

    THRILLER - 25
    The World's Biggest Selling Album of All Time

    Thriller - original track listing - US Billboard Chart Peaks
    "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" - (#5 Hot 100, #5 R&B)
    "Baby Be Mine"
    "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney) - (#2 Hot 100, #1 R&B,
     #1 Adult Contemporary)
    Thriller" - (#4 Hot 10, #3 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks)
    "Beat It" - (#1 Hot 100, #1 R&B)
    "Billie Jean" - (#1 Hot 100, #1 R&B, #9 A/C)
    "Human Nature" - (#7 Hot 100, #2 Adult Contemporary)
    "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" - (#10 Hot 100)
    "The Lady in My Life"

    Bonus Material:
    10. Vincent Price Excerpt
    From "Thriller" Voice-Over Session

    Previously Unreleased Tracks for 25th Anniversary Edition
    11. The Girl Is Mine 2008 with will.i.am
    12. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) 2008 with will.i.am
    13. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008 with Akon
    14. Beat It 2008 with Fergie
    15. Billie Jean 2008 Kanye West mix
    16. For All Time (unreleased track from original Thriller sessions)

    DVD
    The Short Films
    1. BILLIE JEAN
    2. BEAT IT
    3. THRILLER
    4. BILLIE JEAN - The Legendary Performance from Motown 25: Yesterday,
       Today, and Forever

    25th Anniversary Executive Producer: Michael Jackson
    Original Album Produced by Quincy Jones for Quincy Jones Productions

                        http://www.michaeljackson.comhttp://www.legacyrecordings.comhttp://www.epicrecords.com

Source: Legacy Recordings