My Favorite Albums: Michael Jackson's Thriller

- Slant Magazine's best album of the 80's.

- No. 20 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time".

- Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

- The highest selling album of all time with a whopping 65 million copies sold worldwide.

What more can be said about one of the most popular albums ever? Michael Jackson's Thriller was a lot of things to many people when it was released in 1982 and still remains relevant in 2017. Human Nature is still one of the most sampled songs from the 80's, the title song still gets played every Halloween and the red jacket from the video is truly iconic. It remains MJ's magnum opus and his artistic peak. But you can read all this on Wikipedia so let me just get to the actual music.

1. Wanna Be Starting Something: Thriller opens with a fantastically funky effort that gets the album off to a flying start. It clocks at just over six minutes and yet not a minute feels wasted. By the time Michael ushers in the background singers pulsating chants of "ma ma se ma ma sa, ma ma coosa," your head is bopping to the addictive groove.

2. Baby Be Mine: The first of the three songs on the album to not be released as a single. It's probably the least known song on Thriller, but that should not take away from its quality. Written by one of the greatest songwriters in the history of black music, Englishman Rod Temperton, the lyrics are sung sweetly without coming across corny or cheesy. It's a nice, breezy listen.

3. The Girl is Mine: Thriller's first single. I'm not sure why it didn't get the video treatment. Perhaps Paul was busy. I don't know whose call it was - it only featured freakin' Paul McCartney! You know ... of Beatles fame. It many not have been as catchy as the pair's other duet, "Say, Say, Say", but like "Baby Be Mine", it is a nice breezy listen. Their little tiff at the end over the girl was also kinda sweet.

4. Thriller: The title track. The song that the album hinged on. The album's final single. It would take me another article to speak on the iconic video so i'll just focus on the track itself. This was penned by the aforementioned Rod Temperton and is one of MJ's most distinctive songs ever. Why? Urgency. Everything about the lyrics and the beat is hauntingly urgent. You're not sure why there is a song about a "thriller night", but it is incredibly catchy. It also gets bonus points for the Vincent Price monologue at the end. Simply put, a pop culture phenomenon.

5. Beat it: Ah that riff! Courtesy of Eddie Van Halen, "Beat It" rocked to the top of charts upon it's release as a single. This was as close to a hard rock song as MJ had done at the time. Songs like this definitely helped build his versatility as an artist. It also helped make Thriller as accessible as it is.

6. Billie Jean: Arguably the best song MJ ever did. Certainly the best song he ever wrote. Drawing from real life situations, he was able to construct a pop song for the ages. Baby mama drama never sounded so catchy.

7. Human Nature: Probably MJ's most sampled song. The likes of SWV, Chris Brown and Nas have constructed classics of their "Human Nature" samples. Like several songs from the album, it became a staple for his live shows. This was also one of the few times on the album he got to show of his falsetto.

8. P.Y.T: Granted "P.Y.T" (pretty young thing) as a slang has gone the way of tenderoni and honey dip. But it is without a doubt one of the catchiest songs in MJ's lengthy discography. Besides who can forget the call and response part? Now if you don't mind, "P.Y.T's repeat after me..."

9. The Lady of My Life: This is hands down my favorite Michael Jackson song ever. I mean it. Ever! I can tell you the month and year I first heard it - September 2007. I can tell you where I was - Couch Tower, University of Oklahoma. I can tell you the girl I had a crush on at the time (sorry I can't reveal). I can tell you about some of the times the lyrics (courtesy of Rod Temperton) nearly moved me to tears. I guess all i'm saying is that it's a decent way to finish the perfect album.