History Highlight:

Today in 1987, the largest pre-order of albums in the history of CBS Records occurred as 2.25 million copies of Michael Jackson's Bad album were shipped to record stores in the U.S. The LP followed Jackson's 1982 album, Thriller, his biggest seller of all time (more than 35 million copies sold). Bad would go on to sell more than 13 million copies.

Also, Today In:

1957 - Elvis Presley appeared at the Empire Stadium in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Following gigs in Toronto and Ottawa, the Vancouver show marked the third and final time Elvis ever performed outside of the U.S.

1963 - The trio Angels started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "My Boyfriend's Back."

1969 - Decca Records released what has been called the Rolling Stones' most political song, "Street Fighting Man," written after Mick Jagger attended a March 1968 anti-war rally at London's U.S. embassy, during which mounted police attempted to control a crowd of 25,000. The single was kept out of the U.S. Top 40 (reaching No.48) because many radio stations refused to play it based on what were perceived as subversive lyrics.

1976 - George Harrison was found guilty of "subconscious plagiarism" of the Ronnie Mack song "He's So Fine" when writing "My Sweet Lord." Earnings from the song were awarded to Mack's estate; The Chiffons then recorded their own version of "My Sweet Lord."

1985 - Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits started a nine-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album charts. The album also topped the charts in 25 other countries and went on to sell more than 20 million copies worldwide.

1991 - Metallica started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Metallica. The album — which featured the tracks "Enter Sandman," "Sad But True," "The Unforgiven" and "Nothing Else Matters" — went on to sell more than 10 million copies in the U.S. alone.

2002 - NASA announced that Lance Bass, singer with *NSYNC, was to become the first celebrity astronaut. His place on a Russian Soyuz module would make him, at age 23, the youngest person to go into orbit. Bass ended up not taking part in the flight after failing to pay for his $20 million ticket on the craft.

Birthdays:

Van Morrison is 72.

Gina Schock, drummer for the Go-Go's, is 60.

Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze is 60.

Gerard Love of Teenage Fanclub is 50.

Debbie Gibson is 47.

Craig Nicholls of the Vines is 40.

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