Michael Jackson's fans dance "Thriller" in celebration of the late singer's 51st birthday in Mexico City, Mexico, on Aug. 29, 2009. According to the organizers, 12,937 Mexicans set the new Guinness World Record on a mass performance of Michael Jackson's famed "Thriller" dance on Sunday.[Xinhua]

Nearly 13,000 Mexicans attempted to set a world record for the number of people dancing to deceased U.S. pop star Michael Jackson's "Thriller" simultaneously in one place on Saturday, which would have been his 51st birthday.

The mass performance attended by 12,937 people in front of Mexico City's Monument of the Revolution sought to break the world record last held by 242 students from College of William & Mary in the United States in April.

The Guinness Book of World Records will decide in a week.

Just hours earlier, nearly 700 fans in the Spanish city of Barcelona took part in a mass performance of "Thriller" dance.

Jackson died on June 25 at his rented Holmby Hills mansion in Los Angeles at the age of 50, just days before he was to perform a series of concerts in London.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office announced on Friday that his death was a homicide caused by prescription medications.

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2009)