On this day back in 1982, 31 years ago, Michael Jackson and producer Quincy Jones unleashed Thriller, the highest-selling album of all time as of 2012. The late, great, all-everything-entertainer Jackson who died in 2009 wrote four of the nine tracks himself. The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards in 1984, including for Album of the Year. In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked Thriller at number 20 on its list of 500 greatest albums of all time, but as self-professed MJ fan, think it should’ve been much higher.

Jackson, of course, achieved new heights of celebrity after the album, an impressive feat given his smash-hit success in touring with his siblings as a child and then again as a solo artist. Many have since felt that the album helped Jackson break down racial barriers in the U.S., as he ended up meeting with then-President Ronald Reagan.

And then there’s the actual music video for the track ‘Thriller,’ a 14-minute short film which raised the bar for music videos ever since and continues to be the one by which all others are measured. Check it out here and tell me he’s still not the King of Pop.

Happy 31st, Thriller!