History Highlight:

Today in 1983, Michael Jackson's Thriller went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart. It went on to become the most successful album of all time with sales exceeding 50 million copies. With the possible exception of Prince's Purple Rain, Thriller led the way in helping to break down racial barriers among music fans in the 1980s, transcending genres of R&B, soul and pop — aided in no small part by several extremely high-profile videos on MTV for songs such as "Billie Jean" and "Beat It," as well as the 10-minute epic adaptation of the title song, directed by Hollywood director John Landis (Animal House, The Blues Brothers and many others).

Also, Today In:

1955 - For the first time since the 45 RPM format was introduced in 1949, Billboard reported that 45 RPM singles were outselling the earlier standard, 78s.

1965 - Guitarist Jimmy Page released a solo single called "She Just Satisfies." Page played all the instruments on it except for the drums, and produced the track, as well as singing lead vocals.

1966 - Nancy Sinatra went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "These Boots Are Made For Walking."

1977 - The Eagles reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart for the third time with "New Kid in Town", their first single off of Hotel California which spent one week on top.

1980 - After seeing U2 play at Dublin's National Boxing Stadium in front of 2,400 people, Rob Partridge and Bill Stewart from Island Records offered the band a recording contract.

1995 - Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, who toured under the moniker Page & Plant, kicked off their first tour together in 15 years at the Pensacola Civic Center in Pensacola, FL.

2011 - It was announced that Queen's "We Will Rock You" was still the most-played song at North American sporting events, according to a survey from royalty-distribution service BMI, which used data gathered from MLB, NFL and NHL games during 2009 and 2010.

Birthdays:

Fats Domino was born today in 1928.

Johnny Cash was born today in 1932.

Jonathan Cain, keyboardist for Journey, is 66.

Michael Bolton is 63.

Corinne Bailey Rae is 37.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, and Wikipedia.