 | Michael JacksonA Retrospective: 1969-2009 |
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Born: Michael Joseph Jackson When: August 29, 1958 Where: Gary, Indiana Died: June 25, 2009 Early Years:R&B/pop singer/songwriter and dancer Michael Jackson was born the seventh of nine children. From an early age, his talents for music and dancing had become apparent. His father, steelworker Joe Jackson, was a strict, “often ill-tempered disciplinarian” AMG who saw to his children living a very regimented life. Because his mother was a Jehovah’s Witness, the children were also largely sheltered from the outside world. In 1962, Joe created a family musical group with his three oldest sons. Michael joined the next year, “quickly establishing himself as a dynamic stage performer. His dead-on mastery of James Brown’s dance moves and soulful, mature-beyond-his-years vocals made him a natural focal point, especially given his incredibly young age.” AMG For more about Michael’s career, read the comments about the albums highlighted on this page. Sales:Album Sales (in millions): 89.0 US, 500.0 world
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Awards:
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Studio Albums (1979-2001):
Song titles are followed by the dates they charted (if applicable) and chart peaks. Click for codes to charts. The raised letter codes refer to the compilations on which they song is featured (see below). |
Compilations:
Top 100 SongsThese are the top Michael Jackson songs as ranked by the DMDB. Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards.* Jackson 5, ** The Jacksons. Noted below are songs which hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (US), Cashbox (CB), R&B chart (RB), adult contemporary chart (AC), UK chart (UK), Canadian chart (CN), and Australian chart (AU DMDB Top 1%:
1. Billie Jean (1982) #1 US,CB,RB,UK, CN,AU DMDB Top 2%:
12. Remember the Time (1991) #1 CB,RB DMDB Top 5%:
14. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) (1982)
21. Shake Your Body Down to the Ground ** (1978) DMDB Top 10%:
29. Scream (with Janet Jackson, 1995)
31. State of Shock ** (with Mick Jagger, (1984)
41. Enjoy Yourself ** (1976) DMDB Top 20%:
45. You Rock My World (2001)
51. Can You Feel It ** (1980) Beyond the DMDB Top 20%:
61. Lookin’ Through the Window * (1972)
71. I Am Love * (1974)
81. Eaten Alive (w/ Diana Ross, 1985)
91. Give in to Me (1991) |
AnthologyThe Jackson 5/Michael Jackson/Jermaine Jackson |
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Recorded: 1969-1975 Released: June 15, 1976 Peak: 84 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.06 UK, 0.75 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/R&B Rating:  4.425 out of 5.00 (average of 14 ratings)
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Tracks: J5 = Jackson 5, MJ = Michael Jackson, JJ = Jermaine Jackson
Recording dates unknown:
About the Album: In 1968, Michael and his brothers were signed to Motown as The Jackson 5. Michael was only eleven years old when they released their debut single, I Want You Back. That song – and the group’s next three singles (ABC, The Love You Save, and I’ll Be There) all went to #1, making them the first group in pop history to reach the top with their first four singles. By 1972, Michael released his first solo album while continuing to work with his brothers. He had top-five hits with Got to Be There and a cover of Bobby Day’s Rockin’ Robin and had his first #1 with Ben. The latter was “the title song from a children’s thriller about a young boy who befriends Ben, the highly intelligent leader of a gang of homicidal rats. Given the subject matter, the song was surprisingly sincere and sentimental, and even earned an Oscar nomination.” AMG |
Off the WallMichael Jackson |
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Released: August 10, 1979 Peak: 3 US, 116 RB, 5 UK, 4 CN, 12 AU, 8 DF Sales (in millions): 8.0 US, 1.97 UK, 20.0 world (includes US + UK) Genre: pop/R&B/dance Rating: 4.418 out of 5.00 (average of 29 ratings)
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About the Album: In 1976, Michael and his brothers (except Jermaine) left Motown for Epic Records and became known as The Jacksons. In 1978, he starred alongside Diana Ross in the musical The Wiz, a retelling of The Wizard of Oz featuring an all-black cast. He met Quincy Jones doing the movie and tapped him to produce his 1979 album Off the Wall. It was “an immaculately crafted set of funky disco-pop, smooth soul, and lush, sentimental pop ballads” AMG that became only the second album in history (after Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours) to produce four top-ten songs (including the #1 hits Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough and Rock with You) on the Billboard Hot 100. Read more on the DMDB page for this album.
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TriumphThe Jacksons |
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Released: September 26, 1980 Peak: 10 US, 12 RB, 13 UK, 7 CN, 13 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 3.0 world (includes US + UK) Genre: pop/R&B Rating:  4.124 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings)
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About the Album: Considering that this was sandwiched in between Michael Jackson’s biggest blockbuster solo efforts, it’s surprising this wasn’t bigger than it was. While Off the Wall and Thriller produced eleven top-ten hits and sold more than 90 million copies, this album stalled at #10, produced zero top-ten hits, and sold a mere three million copies (decent, but paltry compared to MJ’s solo output). |
ThrillerMichael Jackson |
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Released: November 30, 1982 Peak: 137 US, 137 RB, 18 UK, 113 CN, 111 AU, 15 DF Sales (in millions): 33.0 US, 4.27 UK, 72.4 world (includes US + UK) Genre: pop/R&B/dance Rating: 4.582 out of 5.00 (average of 31 ratings)
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About the Album: In the 1980s, Michael Jackson reached superstar status, thanks to his 1982 Thriller album. It “refined the strengths of Off the Wall; the dance and rock tracks were more driving, the pop tunes and ballads softer and more soulful, and all of it was recognizably Michael.” AMG It was the first album in history to generate seven top-ten songs and went on to become the biggest selling album of all time. The album’s success was fueled in part by breaking down the racial barrier on MTV with “elaborately conceived video clips that revolutionized the way music videos were made.” AMG The video for Thriller is widely celebrated as the top video of all time. He also cemented his iconic status when he introduced his moonwalk dance on Motown’s 25th anniversary television special on May 16, 1983. He snagged a record eight Grammys for Thriller and landed a huge endorsement deal with Pepsi. Toward the tail-end of Thriller’s monumental chart run, he also landed another #1 hit with Say, Say, Say, a 1983 duet with Paul McCartney. Thriller is featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Albums of All Time while two of its songs, Billie Jean and Beat It, are featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era 1954-1999. Read more on the DMDB page for this album.
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VictoryThe Jacksons |
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Released: July 2, 1984 Peak: 4 US, 3 RB, 3 UK, 1 CN, 9 AU, 5 DF Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.1 UK, 7.0 world (includes US + UK) Genre: pop/R&B Rating:  3.377 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings)
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About the Album: In 1984, Michael Jackson had become the biggest star on the planet, thanks to the blockbuster success of his Thriller album. It set high expectations for his reunion tour and album with his brothers. Victory is the only Jacksons’ album to feature all six brothers and is the last to feature Michael Jackson. Since the group’s last album, 1980’s Triumph, Michael became a superstar with 1982’s Thriller which translated into a mega-tour in support of the Victory album. It “is a competent album of slick contemporary R&B, occasionally goosed toward greatness by the appearance of one of pop music's most identifiable voices. Which is the same thing you can say about nearly the entire Jackson 5/Jacksons catalog.” WR The album isn’t so much a collective effort by the brothers as it is solo songs (at least one from each brother) cobbled together. Michael is featured on State of Shock alongside Mick Jagger. Jermaine duets with Michael on Torture. “The tracks by other group members went virtually ignored.” WR Videos were done for “Torture” and Body; neither Michael nor Jermaine appeared in either one. WR William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide |
BadMichael Jackson |
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Released: August 31, 1987 Peak: 16 US, 118 RB, 11 UK, 11 CN, 2 AU, 5 DF Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 3.9 UK, 35.0 world (includes US + UK) Genre: pop/R&B/dance Rating: 4.284 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings)
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* bonus track on CD About the Album: By this stage in Michael’s career, he was tabloid fodder. Rumors swirled that his “soft-spoken, still girlish voice” AMG was due to hormone treatments. It was said that he slept in a hyperbaric chamber to slow the aging process. He was said to have purchased the skeleton of John Merrick, the Elephant Man. He “bought a large ranch in California which he dubbed Neverland and filled it with amusement park rides and animals…which…fueled the public’s perception of him as a somewhat bizarre eccentric obsessed with recapturing his childhood.” AMG He “bought a large ranch in California which he dubbed Neverland, and filled it with amusement park rides and animals…which…fueled the public’s perception of him as a somewhat bizarre eccentric obsessed with recapturing his childhood.” AMG He underwent several cosmetic surgeries, which spurred accusations that he was deliberately trying to look whiter. He later revealed that he had vitiligo, a condition in which destroys skin pigmentation. Musically, he co-wrote “We Are the World” in 1985 with Lionel Richie. The charity single to benefit starving people in Africa became one of the most successful songs of all time. Jackson would also make music headlines when he bought the rights to the Beatles catalog that year, a move that cost him his friendship with Paul McCartney.
He also “re-entered the studio with Quincy Jones to begin the near-impossible task of crafting a follow-up to Thriller.” AMG While it didn’t sell as much as its predecessor (no album has), it was still a blockbuster that was fueled by “a lengthy world tour that featured a typically spectacular, elaborate stage show” AMG
Read more on the DMDB page for this album.
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The Essential JacksonsThe Jacksons |
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Recorded: 1976-1989 Released: March 9, 2004 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, 78 AU Sales (in millions): -- Genre: pop/R&B Rating: 4.314 out of 5.00 (average of 7 ratings)
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Tracks: (1) Enjoy Yourself (2) Show You the Way to Go (3) Goin’ Places (4) Find Me a Girl (5) Blame It on the Boogie (6) Shake Your Body Down to the Ground (7) Lovely One (8) Heartbreak Hotel (aka “This Place Hotel”) (9) Can You Feel It (10) Walk Right Now (11) State of Shock (with Mick Jagger) (12) 2300 Jackson Street (13) Nothin’ That Compares 2 U (14) Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (live) Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:
About the Album: In 1976, the Jackson 5 left Motown and signed a deal with Epic Records. Jermaine Jackson left the group and was replaced by his brother Randy. They renamed themselves The Jacksons. This collection covers their tenure with Epic Records. |
DangerousMichael Jackson |
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Released: November 26, 1991 Peak: 14 US, 112 RB, 11 UK, 3 CN, 16 AU, 9 DF Sales (in millions): 8.0 US, 1.98 UK, 32.0 world (includes US + UK) Genre: pop/R&B/dance Rating: 4.105 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings)
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About the Album: Jackson took another hiatus after 1987’s Bad, finally returning four years later with Dangerous. He turned to new jack swing producer Teddy Riley to update his sound. The now self-dubbed “King of Pop” launched the new album with an elaborate video for Black and White, which generated controversy because of a sequence in which Jackson “shouted, grabbed his crotch, and smashed car windows in a bizarre display that seemed at odds with the song’s harmonious message.” AMG Read more on the DMDB page for this album.
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HIStory BeginsMichael Jackson |
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Recorded: 1978-1991 Released: June 20, 1995 Peak: 12 US, 11 UK, 15 CN, 13 AU, 12 DF Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 1.2 UK, 22.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/R&B/dance Rating: 3.896 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings)
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Awards: (Click on award to learn more).
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Tracks: (1) Billie Jean (2) The Way You Make Me Feel (3) Black or White (4) Rock with You (5) She’s Out of My Life (6) Bad (7) I Just Can’t Stop Loving You (with Siedah Garrett) (8) Man in the Mirror (9) Thriller (10) Beat It (11) The Girl Is Mine (with Paul McCartney) (12) Remember the Time (13) Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (14) Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (15) Heal the World About the Album: In the four years since his last album, Michael’s name never seemed to leave the tabloids. People raised eyebrows over the revelation that he often invited children to his house for sleepovers. In 1993, he was accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy who was a frequent visitor to Neverland. While no criminal charges were ever filed, he paid the family a settlement estimated to be 18 to 20 million dollars. Many thought it “was tantamount to an admission of guilt;” AMG “in the court of public opinion, the charges seemed all too plausible: Jackson was near-universally perceived as a weirdo.” AMG His marriage to Lisa Marie Presley in 1994 was seen as “a desperate ploy to rehabilitate his image,” AMG a charge which gained more credence when the couple broke up just 19 months later. Back on the musical front, Michael released History in 1995. The collection was comprised of two discs – one was a new studio album while the other was a collection of his post-Motown solo material. It included nine #1 songs, but still overlooked his #1 hits Say, Say, Say and Dirty Diana.
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HIStory ContinuesMichael Jackson |
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Released: June 20, 1995 Peak: 12 US, 11 UK, 15 CN, 13 AU, 12 DF Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 1.2 UK, 22.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/R&B/dance Rating: 3.896 out of 5.00 (average of 25 ratings)
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About the Album: The first disc for Michael Jackson’s HIStory is a retrospective covering his biggest hits from 1979 to 1992 while the second disc – called HIStory Continues – is entirely new material, “which also happens to be the first material he released since being accused of child molestation. HIStory Continues is easily the most personal album Jackson has recorded. References to the scandal permeate almost every song, creating a thick atmosphere of paranoia.” STE “If Jackson’s music had been the equal of Thriller or Bad, the nervous, vindictive lyrics wouldn’t have been quite as overbearing. However, HIStory Continues reiterates musical ideas Jackson had been exploring since Bad. Jackson certainly tries to stay contemporary, yet he has a tendency to smooth out all of his rougher musical edges with show-biz schmaltz.” STE “Occasionally, Jackson produces some well-crafted pop that ranks with his best material: R. Kelly’s You Are Not Alone is seductive, Scream improves on the slamming beats of his earlier single Jam, and Stranger in Moscow is one of his most haunting ballads.” STE “You Are Not Alone” gave MJ another career highlight when it became the first song to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100. Nevertheless, HIStory Continues stands as his weakest album since the mid-‘70s.” STE Overall, though, the HIStory album underperformed, at least partly due to people being unwilling to plop down the extra cost of a double-CD collection that featured a disc of material most fans already owned. STE All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine |
InvincibleMichael Jackson |
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Released: October 30, 2001 Peak: 11 US, 14 RB, 11 UK, 1 CN, 11 AU Sales (in millions): 2.1 US, 0.3 UK, 10.0 world (includes US + UK) Genre: pop/R&B/dance Rating:  3.043 out of 5.00 (average of 17 ratings)
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About the Album: Jackson married Debbie Rowe, a nurse, in 1996. They had two children, son Prince Michael Jackson, Jr. and daughter Paris Michael Katherine Jackson. They divorced in late 1999. In 2001, MJ was back with another album. The album title Invincible came across as wishful thinking as this was not the same person who’d captivated the world in the 1980s. Hhis “fading reputation as a trailblazer, a truly ugly public scandal, and swirling rumors about his diminishing finances, along with a huge wait between albums…resulted in Jackson being deep down in the hole, needing to surge back out with a record that not only proved his talents, but his staying power.” STE “So, faced with a make-or-break record…he’s reined in by a desire to prove himself” STE “with a dogged, near-maniacal desire to craft something hip enough for the clubs and melodic enough for mainstream radio…Since he was exceptionally talented and smart enough to surround himself with first-rate collaborators, this does pay off on occasion, even when it feels a little too calculated or when it feels a little padded.” STE “Ultimately, the record runs too long, losing steam halfway through, as it turns to a series of rants about Privacy or a deadly stretch of uncomfortably treacly, sub-‘Man in the Mirror’ songs about The Lost Children, or when he says that he can’t change the world by himself on Cry.” STE “Fortunately, Jackson was clever enough to front-load this record, loading the first seven songs with really good, edgy dance numbers – even the opening Unbreakable isn’t sunk by the creepy resurrection of Biggie Smalls – and lovely ballads, highlighted by Break of Dawn and Butterflies with its Bacharach-styled horns.” STE “Even if these are too self-conscious and a little mechanical (which they are), they still have a spark and sound better than anything Jackson had done since Dangerous. That’s not enough to make Invincible the comeback Jackson needed – he really would have had to have an album that sounded free instead of constrained for that to work – but it does offer a reminder that he could really craft good pop. If only he had been fueled, not constrained, by his obsessions, this could have been really interesting.” STE STE All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine |
Number OnesMichael Jackson |
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Recorded: 1978-2003 Released: November 17, 2003 Peak: 16 US (catalog chart), 12 UK, 11 CN, 2 AU Sales (in millions): 5.3 US, 3.0 UK, 11.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/R&B/dance Rating: 4.313 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings)
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Awards: (Click on award to learn more).
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Tracks: (1) Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (2) Rock with You (3) Billie Jean (4) Beat It (5) Thriller (6) I Just Can’t Stop Loving You [w/ Siedah Garrett] (7) Bad (8) Smooth Criminal (9) The Way You Make Me Feel (10) Man in the Mirror (11) Dirty Diana (12) Black or White (13) You Are Not Alone (14) Earth Song (15) You Rock My World (16) Break of Dawn (17) One More Chance (18) Ben [live] Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:
* chart information for original studio version About the Album: Jackson’s HIStory collection mistakenly paired a new studio album with a compilation. Number Ones is a more appropriately free-standing greatest-hits set which “was released in the wake of the 2000 blockbuster Beatles 1, which rewrote the rules of modern-day hits collections from major artists.” STE The album doesn’t completely follow the #1 rule, including songs like Break of Dawn, which was never even a single, and “the requisite previously unreleased song, the OK slow jam One More Chance.” STE It also omits “Say, Say, Say,” Jackson’s 1983 #1 hit with Paul McCartney. There are also plenty of important top-ten hits which are overlooked, including “Off the Wall” and She’s Out of My Life” from 1979’s Off the Wall, “The Girl Is Mine” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” from Thriller, “Remember the Time” from Dangerous, and “Scream” from HIStory. It would also be nice to see “Tell Me I’m Not Dreamin’,” MJ’s 1984 duet with his brother Jeramine that garnered enough radio airplay that it would have been a top-ten hit had it been released as a single. It all makes it apparent that “the perfect Michael Jackson hits collection has yet to be assembled.” STE Regardless of its imperfections, Number Ones was a multi-platinum, #1 album. In the wake of Jackson’s death in 2009, the album soared back to the top, although in the United States it was technically classified as a catalog album and ineligible for the Billboard album chart at the time. In MJ’s personal life, he continued to court controversy since the release of the History album. His nose caved in from a botched cosmetic surgery, he dangled his eleven-month old baby (nicknamed Blanket) over a hotel balcony in Germany, and was accused again (although acquitted in 2005) of child molestation. |
The Essential Michael JacksonMichael Jackson/The Jackson 5/The Jacksons |
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Recorded: 1969-2001 Released: July 19, 2005 Peak: 33 US, 17 UK, 4 CN, 17 AU Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 1.76 UK, 8.43 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/R&B/dance Rating: 4.336 out of 5.00 (average of 8 ratings)
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Awards: (Click on award to learn more).
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Tracks, Disc 1 (North American version): (1) I Want You Back (2) ABC (3) The Love You Save (4) Got to Be There (5) Rockin’ Robin (6) Ben (7) Enjoy Yourself (8) Blame It on the Boogie (9) Shake Your Body Down to the Ground (10) Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (11) Rock with You (12) Off the Wall (13) She’s Out of My Life (14) Can You Feel It (15) The Girl Is Mine (16) Billie Jean (17) Beat It (18) Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (19) Human Nature (20) P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) (21) Thriller Tracks, Disc 2 (North American version): (1) Bad (2) I Just Can’t Stop Loving You (3) Leave Me Alone (4) The Way You Make Me Feel (5) Man in the Mirror (6) Dirty Diana (7) Another Part of Me (8) Smooth Criminal (9) Black or White (10) Heal the World (11) Remember the Time (12) In the Closet (13) Who Is It (14) Will You Be There (15) Dangerous (16) You Are Not Alone (17) You Rock My World About the Album: This is certainly a more comprehensive collection than either HIStory Begins or Number Ones because it expands to a two-disc set and covers Michael’s material with his brothers in the Jackson 5. However, there are still some maddening omissions such as the Jackson 5’s #1 hit “I’ll Be There,” MJ’s 1983 #1 hit with Paul McCartney “Say, Say, Say,” the Jacksons’ 1984 top-five hit with Mick Jagger “State of Shock,” and MJ’s duet with sister Janet on 1995’s “Scream” (a top-five hit). Certainly an artist of MJ’s stature is hard to anthologize in a mere two discs, but at least some of these songs could have made the cut instead of songs like “Leave Me Alone” and “Dangerous.” Michael wouldn’t release a new studio album again in his lifetime. In 2009, he racked up a potential $400 million for a series of 50 concert dates at London’s O2 concert venue. Sadly, however, he died from cardiac arrest on June 25, 2009. The documentary, This Is It, was released to capture his rehearsals for the intended comeback concert. It became the biggest-grossing music documentary of all time and was accompanied by a chart-topping soundtrack. |
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First posted 8/29/2010; last updated 5/8/2024. |
