During his solo career as an adult (which began in 1979) Michael Jackson released a total of six studio albums up through his untimely death in 2009. In this article you’ll find a short review of each of those six albums.
Off the Wall – Jackson’s true solo debut made him a big star with two #1 singles (”Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough” & “Rock with You.”) The album has sold over 7 million copies in the US to date and over 20 million copies worldwide.
Thriller – Still the biggest selling album ever (both in the US & worldwide.) Beyond it’s incredible success commercial, the album also represents a big step forward for Jackson as a songwriter as he wrote four of the albums nine tracks: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” “The Girl Is Mine,” “Beat It,” & “Billy Jean.” Each of these four songs were released as singles and they all reached the top 5 in the US with “Beat It” and “Billy Jean” both reaching #1.
Bad – This album is way too often overlooked in comparison with Thriller just because it didn’t match the ridiculous sales numbers of that monumentally album. But what about the five #1 singles that Bad produced? And how about the fact that Jackson wrote 8 of the 10 songs on Bad himself? In my opinion the Bad album is an essential part of the Jackson discography.
Dangerous – Following up the insane success of Thriller (most copies sold ever) and Bad (five #1 singles) Dangerous was bound to have a hard time living up to the hype. But it has gone on to sell over 32 million copies worldwide and it included a great deal of 10 top ten hits even if it only had one #1 in the US (”Black or White.”)
HIStory – HIStory included one disc which was a “greatest hits” collection up to that point and a second disc which included all new material. Each disc had 15 songs on it. Among the 15 new songs the most well known are “You Are Not Alone” which hit #1 in the US (and in many other countries around the world) and “Earth Song” which hit #1 in the UK and sold more copies than any other MJ single there.
Invincible – This album is often considered a huge failure by Jackson’s critics but that only goes to show just how the standards are for him because by many standards the album was a big hit. It went to #1 in many countries around the world including the US and the UK and it has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. It included two top twenty US singles: “You Rock My World” (reached #10 in the US & #2 in the UK) and “Butterflies” (#14 in the US.)
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