 On December 1 , 1982 , Thriller was released to critical and commercial success . A month later , on January 2 , 1983 , " Billie Jean " was released as the album 's second single ; it follows Jackson 's successful duet with Paul McCartney on " The Girl Is Mine " . The song reached number one on Billboard 's Hot 100 chart , where it remained for seven weeks . After seven weeks at number one , the song fell to number 5 , and stayed in the top ten for 11 weeks . Billboard ranked it at the No. 2 song for 1983 . " Billie Jean " topped the R & B chart within three weeks , and became Jackson 's fastest @-@ rising number one single since " ABC " , " The Love You Save " and " I 'll Be There " in 1970 . It remained at number one for nine weeks , before the single was eventually replaced by The Gap Band 's " Outstanding " . " Billie Jean " peaked at number 9 on the Adult Contemporary chart . It was also number one in the UK Singles Chart . " Billie Jean " and Thriller topped both the singles and album charts in the same week . This occurred on both sides of the Atlantic simultaneously , a feat very few acts have ever achieved . The song was the third best selling single of 1983 in the US and ninth in the UK . " Billie Jean " also reached number one in Switzerland , the top ten in Austria , Italy , New Zealand , Norway and Sweden . 
