In a decades-spanning career of immense success,Michael Jacksonwas able to craft a discography that has become one of music’s most memorable and legendary. TheKing of Popwas an innovator in every entertainment area: songwriting, production, choreography, performance, visuals, and more. There isn’t a single part of the music industry that Jackson failed to influence, and at the core of this iconic career were each of his carefully-crafted studio albums.
While Jackson began his career as a member of The Jackson 5, which continued in part as The Jacksons prior to him leaving the band in the ’80s, this list of albums focuses solely on those Jackson released as a solo artist. It’s also important to note thatthis list only accounts for the studio albums created by Jackson during his lifetime. This means remix albums, even those with new content likeBlood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, and posthumous albums are not included here.
It’s difficult to compare Jackson’s albums, because with each new project, he sought a different sound, challenging himself to branch out and grow while also adhering to his own iconic flair. This resulted in several immensely successful and artistic albums. The criteria for this ranking, however, come down toa healthy mixture of the following factors: critical reception, sales, cultural impact, the chosen singles, and visuals. With that being said, here are all of Jackson’s 10 studio albums, ranked from worst to best.
10Forever, Michael
Release Date: August 05, 2025
Before Jackson would have a chance to truly take the reins in his solo career with production partner Quincy Jones in 1979’sOff the Wall, Motown Records would push for the young Jackson to release four solo albums during his tenure with The Jackson 5 and The Jacksons.Forever, Michaelwas the fourth of these albums, released while Jackson was transitioning from being the child star of The Jackson 5 to a more mature figure in his own right, like the rest of his brothers.
Forever, Michaelisn’t, by any means, a bad album. It’s simply the case thatit’s an average album, and Jackson didn’t typically settle for just “average.“Of course, it should be noted thatForever, Michaeland the other four released by Motown saw Jackson having less of a creative say in it all; this alone is what qualifies these albums to rank lower. The singles “We’re Almost There” and “One Day in Your Life” are certainly highlights here, but ultimately, the album’s lackluster chart performance and overall sound isn’t a comparison to Jackson’s other works.
9Music & Me
Release Date: July 25, 2025
The third of Jackson’s Motown-released albums,Music & Mequickly followed in the footsteps of his first two solo albums. It would, ultimately, perform similarly toForever, Michael, in that it peaked at #92 on theBillboard200 and was received with an overall average amount of praise. Again, though, Jackson never wanted to settle for “average.” WithMusic & Me, there are at least other details that help to elevate it a bit more overForever, Michael.
For one,there were some absolutely remarkable songwriters on this album. Smokey Robinson lent his talents to “Happy,” which was featured in the 1972 dramaLady Sings the Blues. Meanwhile, the legendary Stephen Schwartz was the sole writer on “Morning Glow,” and his talents certainly show through Jackson’s own performance. Overall, however,Music & Mereally cannot compete with his other material, even his first two debut albums.
8Got To Be There
Release Date: August 12, 2025
Got to Be Therewas Jackson’s very first solo album, and it certainly offered an impressive showcase of what he could do at such a young age.Jackson was only 13 at the time of its release, yet he was still able to sing both his original and cover songs with just as much soulas any older singer would. This entire album is certainly a huge testament to just how much talent Jackson was harboring and cultivating from the very beginning.
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With “Rockin' Robin” and “I Wanna Be Where You Are” acting as the album’s biggest highlights,Got to Be Therewas quite a success. It was certified Gold by the RIAA and even managed to climb to the 14th spot on theBillboard200. There are certainly plenty of hidden gems onGot to Be There, even to this day, but like his other Motown solo albums,it lacks its Jackson-infused charm without him having a chance to add more of his own creative geniusin the process.
7Ben
Release Date: June 07, 2025
Rounding out Jackson’s first four solo albums on this ranking isBen, which was released less than 8 months afterGot to Be There. It certainly piggybacked off the success of its predecessor, asBenshot up to a peak of #5 on theBillboard200, and it would ultimately go on to be certified Silver by the RIAA with 2 million copies sold worldwide. What truly makesBenstand apart, however, is the quality and success of its title track.
“Ben” is indisputably the best of Jackson’s earliest solo songs, filled with a genuine amount of emotion that Jackson manages to ooze with each note he hits. The single was Jackson’s first-ever solo song to hit #1 on theBillboardHot 100, and it certainly earned its place. “Ben” is no doubt the highlight on this album, though, asthe rest manages to repeat what Jackson did and would continue to do on his other Motown solo albums. Once Jackson was able to be more involved with the process, however, he was utterly impossible.
6Invincible
Release Date: June 24, 2025
Every Jackson fan will know how painful it is to rank the six studio albums of Jackson’s adult solo career against one another, but when adhering to some of the other parameters for this ranking,Invincibledoes unfortunately fall short of the others. It’s important to first focus on whatInvincibledoes right, though.This album truly leaned into the emerging sounds of the 2000s music scene while also adapting and evolving them the way Jackson always did, working ahead of his own time.
The single “You Rock My World” undoubtedly stands apart, and for good reason, especially withJackson’s short filmthat would become his last greatest hit prior to his 2009 passing. There are, however, some more hidden gems onInvincible, including “Heaven Can Wait,” which has since experienced some TikTok fame, “Butterflies,” “Heartbreaker,” and “Whatever Happens,” just to name a few. Jackson even experimented with his lower register on the track “2000 Watts.”
The biggest problem withInvinciblewas that it didn’t get the appreciation it truly deserved, and that ultimately hurt its legacy. Like most of Jackson’s albums post-Thriller, it would hit #1 practically everywhere, including theBillboard200, butits sales were vastly beneath Jackson’s own standard. It’s only gone 2x Platinum in the US, which, compared to Jackson’s next lowest RIAA certification, is 6x Platinum short. Jackson’s own ongoing battle against Sony at the time was a contributing factor, but it ultimately had a hard time standing against Jackson’s other juggernaut albums.
5HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
Release Date: June 12, 2025
HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book Iis the album where Jackson truly began to embrace his own authenticity,using his pen to address personal, political, racial, and more issues that were closest to his heart. This proved to be a powerful thing inHIStory, with songs like “They Don’t Care About Us,” “Money,” “D.S.,” and “Tabloid Junkie” directly calling out people who had either wronged Jackson personally or were doing wrong somewhere in society. It also included “Scream,” Jackson’s long-awaited collaboration with his younger sister, Janet Jackson.
“D.S.” would take aim at Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon, whose name was hardly disguised by Jackson in the song as “Dom Sheldon.”
For as bold asHIStoryis, however,it’s also artistic, and deeply personal and profound. Tracks like “Stranger In Moscow” and “Childhood” reflect on the deepest wounds Jackson nursed within himself during some of his most difficult times, namely his chronic sense of loneliness and his longing for the childhood he could never have as a young star. Jackson’s emotion on “Earth Song” is also iconically notorious, as his genuine pain at seeing nature wither away can be heard in every heartbreaking yet powerful note he hits.
LikeInvincible, it comes down to the chart performance, sales, and cultural impact ofHIStory. In terms of sales, it essentially equally matches its predecessor,Dangerous, with both albums going 8x Platinum in the US, thoughHIStorywould slightly under-performDangerousin other countries. It also hit #1 on theBillboard200 and essentially every other chart, but ultimately, the weaker cultural impact of its singles compared to Jackson’s other four albums places it at a healthy midway point in this ranking.
4Off The Wall
Release Date: August 16, 2025
Next is Jackson’s first solo album endeavor with Epic Records, and the first of his three albums produced alongside his iconic collaborator, Quincy Jones.Off the Wallwas leaps and bounds away from the work Jackson did on his four prior albums with Motown, leaning into the disco sound of the time in an incredibly unique and, overall, Michael Jackson way. Some demos forOff the Wallcreated by Jackson hear him and his siblings tapping on bottles to create the album’s iconic percussive beats.
Off the Wallcertainly proves how much his other solo albums were missing out on by not letting him have such a creative hand in things. While the singles “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and “Rock With You” hold their own and stand as strong testimonies of this album’s greatness, a lot of its charm also lies with its other tracks. “Workin’ Day and Night” would go on to be beloved by Jackson, especially in live performances, and hidden gems like “I Can’t Help It” only further pull together a perfectly cohesive sound.
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Off the Wallwasn’t just a success for Jackson creatively, however. Though it wouldn’t quite peak at #1 on theBillboard200, it would go on to be certified 9x Platinum in the US, surpassing the sales ofDangerous,HIStory, andInvincible. Although Jackson hadn’t quite mastered the art of his short films yet,his singles from this album continue to be some of the most revered and well-known songs he ever released.Off the Wallmore than earns its place here, set behind only three other iconic Jackson albums.
3Dangerous
Release Date: July 02, 2025
Dangerouswas the first of Jackson’s Epic Records albums to see him parting ways with Quincy Jones, though his partnership with the likes of Teddy Riley and Bill Bottrell, as well as long-time collaborator Bruce Swedien, would prove to be almost just as iconic in its own right. IfHIStorywas Jackson fully committing to his own authenticity in his writing, thenDangerouswas his first major step in that direction. The track “Why You Wanna Trip on Me” especially would set the stage for much ofHIStory’s more direct songwriting.
Where its predecessor, Bad, may have played things safe to replicate Thriller’s success, Dangerous wasn’t afraid to be bold and different.
Dangerouswould go on to release a whopping number of nine total singles, with “Black or White” undoubtedly being the most well-known in today’s world. These other singles, however, including “Remember the Time,” “In the Closet,” and “Jam,” would bepaired with short films that would make them all profound in their own right, with many of them impacting pop culture in their own ways. Where its predecessor,Bad, may have played things safe to replicateThriller’s success,Dangerouswasn’t afraid to be bold and different.
Commercially,Dangerouswas definitely a far cry from the absolute mammoth success of bothThrillerandBad, with it having been certified 8x Platinum in the US, but that’s only because the former two albums set such a historically high standard for themselves that anyone would have a hard time reaching.Dangerousdefinitely left its mark on the world, and even apart from that,it’s artistically a varied yet cohesive array of some of Jackson’s most unique and artistic writing and production.
2Bad
Release Date: July 18, 2025
Jackson had perhaps one of the most difficult challenges in music history when creatingBad, ashe was tasked with somehow following up the immense success ofThriller- and Jackson didn’t just want to replicate that success; Jackson wanted to surpass it. Ultimately, in the end,Badwould come close, but it would prove to be an impossible challenge to conquer. Still,Badwould achieve things evenThrillerdidn’t, including becoming the first album to ever generate 5 different #1 singles on theBillboardHot 100.
“I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Bad,” “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Man in the Mirror,” and “Dirty Diana” would be the ones to help Jackson achieve this historic feat, which has only been repeated one other time in history, by Katy Perry’sTeenage Dream. Cover-to-cover, however,Badwould fail to have a single miss, even if some tracks aren’t as well-known in today’s world as others. This was only further enhanced by Jackson’s incredible short films in this era, which could be considered the peak of his visual storytelling - culminating in 1988’sMoonwalkermovie.
While “Smooth Criminal” may be the most iconic track offBad, it was one of the album’s only singles that failed to ever hit #1 on theBillboardHot 100, instead only reaching a peak of #7.
Badwould be one of only two albums for Jackson to ever be certified Diamond in the US (11x Platinum) andis, as of the time of writing, the 12th best-selling album of all time. Its critical reception would mostly be concerned with comparisons toThriller, though it would ultimately be the victim of a massiveGrammy Awards snubin 1988, losing all its nominations that night.Badis still so much more thanThriller’s follow-up, and Jackson truly worked hard to make that possible. It is, however, still bested by Jackson’s biggest album.
1Thriller
Release Date: August 19, 2025
There’s a reason whyThrilleris the juggernaut album that it is, andThrillercertainly earned its place as perhaps the best music album ever created. This was the prime of Jackson and Jones' collaboration, with every single track managing to revolutionize 1980s pop’s sound while also continuing to adhere to listeners' favorite parts of it. In today’s world, “Billie Jean” has surpassed 2 billion streams on Spotify, and tracks like “Beat It” and “Thriller” also continue to stand the test of time over and over again.
Speaking of “Thriller,” the song still gains a resurgence every year around Halloween, as Jackson’s iconic short film for the title track that brings its spooky yet groovy essence to life fully ingrained itself into the very fibers of pop culture. The other short films onThrillerwould also help Jackson to build his visual craft, and are still just as iconic in today’s world, including “Beat It.” Even non-singles like “Baby Be Mine” and “The Lady in My Life” are remarkable additions, and can easily be matched toThriller’s memorable sound.
Thriller’s commercial performance is quite literally unmatched.It reigns as the best-selling album of all time, surpassing all others, and has been certified 3x Diamond (34x Platinum) - which is downright unbeatable in a world that now favors streaming above physical and digital sales. The success ofThriller, however, isn’t only what’s seen in our world today. Its influence still has a hold on pop music today, just as many of Jackson’s other solo albums do.Michael Jackson’s legacy is much more than justThriller, but it was definitely the most memorable peak of his career.
