This Day in Music

On this day in music, February 26, 1983, Michael Jackson’s Thriller topped the Billboard Album chart – and was well on its way to becoming the best-selling album of the year, worldwide. Produced by Quincy Jones, Jackson’s sixth studio album marked his creative and commercial breakthrough as a solo artist and, eventually, spent a whopping 37 non-consecutive weeks at No.1. Thriller also produced a record-breaking seven Top Ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100, while it later earned an unprecedented eight Grammy Awards. Today, it remains the world’s best-selling album of all time.

In 1966, Nancy Sinatra scored her first No.1 hit in the US with “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’.” Written by Lee Hazlewood, and featuring instrumentation by The Wrecking Crew, the song marked the beginning of a long creative partnership between Sinatra and Hazlewood. The swinging track – which also topped the charts in the UK, Australia, and South Africa, among other territories – became an anthem for female empowerment.

In 1980, Island Records’ Rob Partridge and Bill Stewart offered U2 a recording contract after watching their performance at Dublin’s National Boxing Stadium. A month later, the Irish rock band signed a four-year, four-album contract with the label. Their first single with Island, “11 O’Clock Tick Tock,” dropped in May, followed by their debut LP, Boy in October.


In 1965, not long before he joined the Yardbirds, session musician Jimmy Page released his first single, “She Just Satisfies,” in the UK. The future Led Zeppelin guitarist played all of the instruments (aside from drums), produced the song, and sang lead vocals.

In 2011, a survey from royalty-distribution service BMI announced that Queen’s “We Will Rock You” was still the most-played song at US sporting events, more than 30 years after its release. BMI further calculated that US radio and TV performances of the 1977 hit added up to more than 18 years of continuous airplay.

BORN ON FEBRUARY 26

1928: Fats Domino
1932: Johnny Cash
1945: Mitch Ryder
1953: Michael Bolton
1968: Tim Commerford (Rage Against The Machine)
1971: Max Martin (Producer and songwriter)
1971: Erykah Badu
1979: Corinne Bailey Rae
1982: Nate Ruess (Fun)