[4] "Thriller" is a disco song featuring a repeating synthesizer bassline and lyrics and sound effects evoking horror films.

It includes a spoken-word sequence performed by the horror actor Vincent Price which begins at the 6:33 mark on the music video and 4:25 in the album version.

It was produced by Quincy Jones and written by Rod Temperton, who wanted to write a theatrical song to suit Jackson's love of film.

The "Thriller" music video, directed by John Landis, depicts Jackson turning into a zombie and dancing with a horde of them.

It has been named the greatest music video of all time by various publications and readers' polls, and doubled sales of Thriller, helping it become the best-selling album in history.

[8] He improvised with bass and drum patterns until he developed the bassline that runs through the song, then wrote a chord progression that built to a climax.

[8] The intro features sound effects such as a creaking door, thunder, footsteps, winds and howling wolves.

It was decided to have a famous voice from the horror genre perform it, and Jones' then-wife, Peggy Lipton, suggested her friend Vincent Price.

Jackson, who was "obsessive" about his sales figures,[15] urged Yetnikoff and another Epic executive, Larry Stessel, to help conceive a plan to return the album to the top of the charts.

[18] The 2025 song "Wake Me Up" by the Canadian singer the Weeknd and French electronic duo Justice contains an interpolation of "Thriller".

[19][20] The music video for "Thriller" references numerous horror films,[15] and stars Jackson performing a dance routine with a horde of the undead.

[22] Many elements have had a lasting impact on popular culture, such as the zombie dance and Jackson's red jacket, designed by Landis' wife Deborah Nadoolman.

[22] The zombie dance, choreographed by Michael Peters for the music video, is re-enacted worldwide by fans and remains popular on YouTube.

In 2009, it became the first music video inducted into the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant.

[34] In the week of his death, "Thriller" was Jackson's best-selling track in the US, with sales of 167,000 copies on the Billboard Hot Digital Singles Chart.

[44] "Thriller" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on December 4, 1989, for sales of over one million physical units in the US[45][46] As of August 2016, the song had sold 4,024,398 copies in the US.

[50] Ashley Lasimone, of AOL's Spinner.com, noted that it "became a signature for Jackson" and described "the groove of its bassline, paired with Michael's killer vocals and sleek moves" as having "produced a frighteningly great single.

", that were "the hits that made Thriller a world-beater; along with Mr. Jackson's stage and video presence, listeners must have identified with his willingness to admit terror.

"[52] Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times described "Thriller" as "adequately groovy" with a "funked-out beat" and lyrics "seemingly lifted from some little kid's 'scary storybook'".