On This Day, March 17, 1984: Van Halen’s 1984 peaks at #2 on the Billboard album chart

By Jill Lances & Andrea Dresdale

March 17, 2023 at 7:00 am EDT

Van Halen's sixth studio album, 1984, hit number two on the Billboard album chart and stayed there for five weeks. The album was denied the top spot by Michael Jackson's "Thriller" – which features guest guitar work from Eddie Van Halen.

The album never reached number one, but did go on to sell more than 10 million copies.

1984 was the last Van Halen album to feature original frontman David Lee Roth, until 2012's A Different Kind of Truth. It was also the last full-length album to feature all four original members of Van Halen, as bassist Michael Anthony was replaced by Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen on the 2012 album.