'You Rock My World' is one of my favourite MJ songs ever. I was obsessed with it at the time and it helps that it's one of his few hits that I vividly remember from time of release because I was too young for a lot of his earlier eras.

oh I really liked In the Closet, its out too early...

In the Closet and Jam are big losses for me.

 

I do like You Rock My World too, it’s just not quite the same standard of most of his other opening singles

 

 

Can’t agree with PCF re his Dangerous singles. Remember the Time has probably aged a bit badly but most of the tracks on Dangerous have only gotten stronger over time for me.

Here's a re-cap of the results 31-40:

31. In The Closet – 6.954
32. You Rock My World – 6.886
33. Heal The World – 6.863
34. Jam – 6.659
35. She’s Out of My Life – 6.568
36. Liberian Girl – 6.522
37. Say, Say, Say (ft Paul McCartney) – 6.522
38. Ghosts – 6.166
39. Got To Be There – 6.068
40. Ain’t No Sunshine – 6.045

Here's how many singles from each era has left in the running:


Got To Be There - 4/4
Ben - 1/1
Music & Me - 2/2
Forever Michael - 3/3
Off The Wall - 3/5
Thriller - 7/8
Bad - 8/9
Dangerous - 5/9
HIStory: Past, Present and Futuire - 5/6
Blood On The Dancefloor - 2/3
Invincible - 3/3
Michael - 2/2
Xscape - 1/1

Edited July 3, 20214 yr by Nina West

Can’t agree with PCF re his Dangerous singles. Remember the Time has probably aged a bit badly but most of the tracks on Dangerous have only gotten stronger over time for me.

 

Dangerous really is a phenomenally good album, the whole thing is such a solid body of work. I'd probably say it's my favourite as an album, even though the others have big hits.

Funnily, Im completely the opposite

for me Bad is his masterpiece, almost every song is a 10/10

by comparison, Dangerous was a huge let down and except a couple of tracks, there is nothing essential...

 

but I see among fans, it depends a lot which album you discovered first... I have friends that are older than me and all were introduced to MJ with Thriller, so Thriller is their fav and everything went downhill after that... for my generation, we all grow up with Bad, so for my friend and myself Bad is his best... but I see a lot of younger people saying his best is Dangerous, cos thats their starting point...

Funnily, Im completely the opposite

for me Bad is his masterpiece, almost every song is a 10/10

by comparison, Dangerous was a huge let down and except a couple of tracks, there is nothing essential...

 

but I see among fans, it depends a lot which album you discovered first... I have friends that are older than me and all were introduced to MJ with Thriller, so Thriller is their fav and everything went downhill after that... for my generation, we all grow up with Bad, so for my friend and myself Bad is his best... but I see a lot of younger people saying his best is Dangerous, cos thats their starting point...

 

I think that's prob true - I was a fan in the 70's so I love the 70's stuff, but I also love the Thriller/Bad era stuff to, great albums and great singles. By Dangerous, I had huge expectations and was disappointed with the album. I prob need to revisit it (I've said this before to dandy* :) ) but my impression at the time was it had too many filler tracks (where the previous albums had little filler) they were too long generally for my taste, and there were no show-stoppers. There were some good individual tracks, a few great number 2's (in the chart-position sense) but no "ooh that's a chart-topper!" stand-outs. Apparently Earth Song & Blood On The Dancefloor were recorded for the Dangerous sessions, but kept for later albums, along with oooh another 60 songs or so most of which made no album. Quincy Jones would have reigned him in a bit, I think, and made him focus, but may have made it too polished for the 90's, so I can see why he went more for a Janet Jackson vibe and it prob is more cohesive than the more-varied Bad, which he was aiming to avoid being similar to.

Every path you take you're leaving your legacy

30. History | 7.181 Highest Scores: 11: (Qween), Lowest Scores: 3: (gavindeejay)
29. Love Never Felt So Good (ft Justin Timberlake) | 7.204 Highest Scores: 10: (gog lad84), Lowest Scores: 5.5/5: (Nina West, vibe, popchartfreak, dandy, Monzo)


At #30 is History, released in July 1997 alongside "Ghosts", as the 2nd single from Michael's remix album Blood On The Dancefloor: HIStory In The Mix. The song was originally featured on his 1995 "HIStory" album, but wasn't released as a single in its original form. It was later remixed by Tony Moran for its inclusion on the 'BOTD' album titled "Tony Moran's HIStory Lesson". The song was written and composed by Michael himself alongside Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis & sampled multiple musical compositions and historical audio quotes, all of which were dispersed throughout the track. This is a strong belting track with clanging beats & cool 90's dance music production, before switching over to house piano, which blends together nicely, makes this far more memorable than the original '95 version , thanks by its use of the "Keep On Movin' sample.

At #29 is the last MJ posthumous release to feature here Love Never Felt So Good, released in May 2014 as the lead single from his 2nd posthumous album Xscape. The song was reworked from a 1983 demo track originally composed by Jackson and Canadian singer-songwriter Paul Anka, It was also sent to Johnny Mathis who recorded a new version of the song with revised lyrics by Anka and Kathleen Wakefield. Mathis' version made it on his 1984 album, "A Special Part of Me". During the 2013/2014 recording sessions for the 'Xscape" album, the song was given a revision as a disco sounding track, which was a solo MJ track, then the 2nd version which was co-produced by Timbaland & J-Roc & recorded as a duet alongside Justin Timberlake who sampled the percussion and breaths from Jackson's 1979 song "Workin' Day and Night". Upon release it was the collaboration version that got the most attention & became a commercial success by peaking in the top 10 in 18 countries, as well as top the charts in 5 countries. Due to this success, Michael became the first artist in history to have a top 10 hit in 5 decades in the USA (6 including with his group The Jackson 5). Personally I wouldn't have ranked this so high, especially over some of the far better material that has already dropped. That's not to say that this is bad or anything, in fact in its spruced up form, it's rather decent with its infectious clicking beats & MJ's signature gasping, stuttering, and pseudo-beatboxing. But suffers from Justin's presence, he tries his best, but he just wasn't needed & no matter how many times he tries, he will NEVER be Michael Jackson.

Edited July 4, 20214 yr by Nina West

Love Never Felt So Good is too high here, definitely worse than many of the tracks that have already gone. History is a mixed one for me, it had an okay remix for the single but I prefer the album version

Groove, let the madness in the music get to you

28. Another Part Of Me | 7.227 Highest Scores: 10: (Bjork), Lowest Scores: 5: (gavindeejay, Mullo, Monzo)
27. Off The Wall | 7.227 Highest Scores: 10: (gavindeejay, Adelita, bluemonday), Lowest Scores: 4: (Monzo, CJK)
26. Leave Me Alone | 7.295 Highest Scores: 10: (Qween). Lowest Scores: 4: (Adelita)


At #28 is Another Part Of Me, released in July 1988 as the 6th single from his 7th studio album Bad & as with earlier songs in his career, the lyrics emphasize global unity, love and outreach. The song originally featured in his 1986 3D film "Captain EO" & was also known to replace 'Streetwalker' from the album's final tracklisting because Michael got to dance more. Upon release the song performed well by reaching top 10 peaks in Ireland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Poland & Germany, as well as top 20 peaks in USA, New Zealand, UK & Austria.
This is a really good strong standout moment on 'Bad' that often gets overlooked with its slightly off-kilter rhymes & beats, where the bass doesn't quite line up with the guitars, but that's the beauty of this kinetic dance-floor burner. It shows Michael's intense approach to the music he helped create & its an all round great track.

At #27 & tying with the previous track is Off The Wall, released in November 1979 as the 3rd single from his 5th studio album of same title. The song was first offered to Karen Carpenter, while she was working on her first solo album, but she turned it down. Upon release the song was well received by critics & became his 3rd top 10 from the album in the USA. Elsewhere it also managed top 10 peaks in the UK, Norway & Sweden, as well as top 20 peaks in Canada, New Zealand, Netherlands, Ireland & South Africa. A shimmering disco track with an eerie melodic riff that resolves into a silky chorus with hints of funk, disco & rock thrown into the mix alongside one of Michael's most assured vocal performances. This is a safe yet very good effort from his breakout period.

At #26 is Leave Me Alone, released in February 1989 as the 8th single from his 7th studio album Bad, though only outside of the USA & Canada. It only appeared on the CD versions of the album & was a response to negative rumours about Jackson that frequently appeared in the tabloids post-1985 after the success of "Thriller", beginning in 1986 & would only get worse as the years went on. The song's music video won a Grammy for 'Best Music Video' in 1990. Upon release the song became yet another success for him by topping the charts in Ireland & Greece * hitting top 5 peaks in UK, Belgium, Finland, Netherlands & Spain as well as top 20/40 peaks everywhere else. What can only be described as an self-empowerment paranoid anthem & its simply great & powered by duelling keyboard lines, cool synthesizers & aggressive vocals, its just an all-round solid tune & lyrically would become more and more prominent as time went on.

The rest of the results will in 1's

Another Part of Me is so under-rated, one of the best from Bad.

Didnt know Karen Carpenter was offered Off The Wall :o Should be higher on the list.

 

Written by UK songwriter Rod Temperton, the man from Cleethorpes & Market Rasen who was behind UK soulfunk band Heatwave and who had the timeless brilliant Boogie Nights and a string of other great global disco-funk/soul ballad hits. And a string of Michael Jackson's greatest songs. And George Benson's best songs. And Brothers Johnson. And Quincy Jones. And one for Donna Summer. Manhattan Transfer. Patti Austin & James Ingram. Michael McDonald.

I used to find the leave me alone video completely mesmerising as a kid. I’d been aware of things like Bad and Smooth Criminal but it was that video that really made me a fan.

Funnily, Im completely the opposite

for me Bad is his masterpiece, almost every song is a 10/10

by comparison, Dangerous was a huge let down and except a couple of tracks, there is nothing essential...

 

but I see among fans, it depends a lot which album you discovered first... I have friends that are older than me and all were introduced to MJ with Thriller, so Thriller is their fav and everything went downhill after that... for my generation, we all grow up with Bad, so for my friend and myself Bad is his best... but I see a lot of younger people saying his best is Dangerous, cos thats their starting point...

 

Not really - I heard Thriller before I heard Dangerous.

 

I do like those other albums though.

 

The next MJ song will be from the 90's decade, there's 11 possible choices, any guesses?

LET'S TRY & GET THIS TO ANOTHER PAGE :P

Earth Song seems to polarise opinions, cannot see it being that high on the list

I think Earth Song is going to do very well. It's nowhere near being a favourite of mine but it seemed to rack up LOADS of 10s.