1984 - Michael Jackson's Thriller was released as the 7th and final single from Thriller—the best-selling album of all time.

It was written by Rod Temperton and produced by Quincy Jones, had originally been titled "Starlight". The song's instruments include a bassline and synthesizer. In the song, sound effects such as a creaking door, thunder, feet walking on wooden planks, winds and howling dogs can be heard, and the lyrics contain frightening themes and elements.

Jackson recorded the song at Westlake Recording Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Bruce Swedien, the songs engineer, said of the song being recorded,

When we started 'Thriller', the first day at Westlake, we were all there and Quincy walked in followed by me and Michael and Rod Temperton and some of the other people. Quincy turned to us and he said, 'OK guys, we're here to save the recording industry.' Now that's a pretty big responsibility - but he meant it. And that's why those albums, and especially 'Thriller', sound so incredible. The basic thing is, everybody who was involved gave 150%... Quincy's like a director of a movie and I'm like a director of photography, and it's Quincy's job to cast. Quincy can find the people and he gives us the inspiration to do what we do.

Swedien and Jones stated that Vincent Price recorded his introduction and voice-over rap for the song in two takes; Jones, acknowledging that doing a voice-over for a song is "difficult", praised Price and described his recording takes as being "fabulous". Swedien said of Jackson recording the song, that, "I tried all sorts of things with Michael - for instance, he would sing the main vocal part and we'd double it one time and then I'd ask him to step away from the mic and do it a third time and that really changed the acoustics in the room so it gave Michael's vocals a unique character … We recorded some of those background vocals in the shower stall at Westlake."

1988 - After charting within the top ten for five weeks, The Way You Make Me Feel 3rd single from BAD, peaked at #1 on the Hot 100. It became the album's 3rd consecutive #1 single at the pop singles chart, where it stayed for one week. The song also charted at #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles Charts and Dance Music/Hot Club Play Singles Chart. The single spent four weeks at the top of the Black singles chart. TWYMMF became Michael's 7th #1 solo single of the eighties. This broke the record for the most #1 hits in the eighties. Michael Jackson was now the most successful solo artist of the decade.

2002 - Michael's single 'Cry' was released in Japan.

Tracklist:

• 'Cry'
• 'Shout'
• 'Streetwalker'
• 'Cry' (short film)

The Japanese version includes the lyrics of the song 'Cry' and 'Shout' as well as the Japanese translation of these lyrics.