Billie Jean
1982 · From Thriller
That bassline, mixed and remixed until it gleamed, and the four minutes that integrated MTV.
★ 9.8
The Songs canon
Sourced and sung.
Every song chosen by hand, with the recording to play it.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Beat It
1982 · From Thriller
Van Halen dropped in, played the solo for free, and Jackson made rock and pop the same building.
★ 9.2
Thriller
1982 · From Thriller
Vincent Price cackling over a disco-funk groove, and a fourteen-minute video that turned pop into event television.
★ 9.2
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
1979 · From Off the Wall
Jackson wrote it himself and steered the session; a whisper, a water-bottle rattle, then Louis Johnson's bass takes over.
★ 8.3
Rock With You
1979 · From Off the Wall
Rod Temperton offered it to Karen Carpenter first; Quincy Jones and Jackson took it to number one.
★ 7.6
Smooth Criminal
1987 · From Bad
Jackson took the chorus line from a CPR dummy named Annie, and the anti-gravity lean later earned a patent.
★ 7.6
Bad
1987 · From Bad
Scorsese shot eighteen minutes in a Brooklyn subway station, and the brass hits point straight back at James Brown.
★ 7.4
Man in the Mirror
1988 · From Bad
Garrett and Ballard's demo won Quincy Jones over within hours, and the Andraé Crouch Choir carries Jackson home.
★ 6.8
Human Nature
1982 · From Thriller
Steve Porcaro's demo reached Quincy Jones only because a cassette auto-reversed, and it took Carousel's place on Thriller.
★ 6.7
The Way You Make Me Feel
1987 · From Bad
Cut at Westlake with Quincy Jones, a shuffle Jackson wrote himself, and Bad's third straight Hot 100 number one.
★ 6.5
Remember the Time
1991 · From Dangerous
Teddy Riley's new jack swing under a nostalgia lyric, with John Singleton staging the video in ancient Egypt.
★ 6.5
Black or White
1991 · From Dangerous
Bill Bottrell played the riff everyone credits to Slash, then rapped the verse himself after eight months of searching.
★ 6.5