High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Bad is the seventh studio album by American songwriter and recording artist Michael Jackson. The album was released on August 31, 1987 by Epic/CBS Records, nearly five years after Jackson's previous studio album, Thriller, which went on to become the world's best-selling album. Bad itself sold over 30 million copies worldwide, and shipped eight million units in the United States alone, and has been cited as being one of the best-selling albums of all time. Bad was the first album to have five of its singles peak at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Similar to Jackson's previous music material, the album's music features elements of R B, pop and rock.