Michael Jackson’s 60 Best Songs (in honor of his 60th Birthday)

This sixth single from the ‘Bad’ album was the first that didn’t reach No. 1 on the Hot 100. In fact, it failed to even crack the top ten - peaking at No. 11. But it did reach No. 1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 1988 proving the MJ magic was still there.

The single that never was. This duet between the two former lead singers of the Jackson 5 was poised to be a big hit from Jermaine’s 1984 album. But his Arista label and Michael’s Epic label couldn’t agree to terms and the song languished as an album cut, never to reach any singles charts.

Who could forget that famous music video featuring a slicked-down MJ and super model Naomi Campbell intertwined as they were?

Michael owned the Beatles’ publishing rights at the time he remade this classic of theirs during the 1987 ‘Bad’ sessions. His relationship with Paul McCartney may have been strained, but he did do the song justice. It finally saw a commercial release in 1995’s ‘HIStory’ album.

The claymation video of Michael and the erstwhile police bunny was cool. The song was an under-appreciated gem from the ‘Bad’ album.

Motown’s writers knew a good double entendre when they saw one, and “Sugar Daddy” - as literally as the song may have been interpreted by a 13-year-old Michael - was right up there with the best of them.

The song was released as the seventh single from the ‘Dangerous’ album - but only after it was featured in the film “Free Willy.” It peaked at No. 7 right around the time of the first allegations of MJ’s inappropriate contact with children, but it made Michael the only artist to this day to have three different albums generate seven top-40 singles each.

The first album to generate seven top-40 singles was also the first to generate seven top tens, thanks to this iconic title track whose music video is still considered among the most influential in history. I can still remember waiting for its television world premier in 1983.

This robotic 1974 single returned the J5 to the top of the charts after a two-year low period in which none of their singles reached the top ten (since 1971’s “Sugar Daddy”). It would be another two and a half years before they’d reach it again (1976’s “Enjoy Yourself”), making “Dancing Machine” the only pop top ten hit they would have over a five-year span between 1972-76.

This energetic fourth single from the ‘Dangerous’ album followed “In The Closet” and featured yet another superstar guest in its music video - Michael Jordan, who, at the time, had yet to win his first NBA Championship.

This two-part single was the Jackson 5’s last hit with Motown before leaving in 1975 to join Epic Records. Ironically, Jermaine sang lead in Part 1, but Michael provided the bridge as well as some key ad libs during the chorus in the song’s more uptempo Part 2.

The ‘Dangerous’ album was released during the SoundScan era, which tracked sales and airplay using actual detections instead of lists provided by record stores and radio stations. As a casualty, it wasn’t an automatic that MJ would have top charting hits as it had been before, and this song was one of three from the album that failed to make the top 10, peaking at No. 14 in early 1993.

In one of the earliest music videos of the modern era, the Jacksons created a special-effects piece of art for “Can You Feel It.” The song didn’t chart well, but it helped make the ‘Triumph’ album one of the group’s best.

This 2014 song was mined from the 1999 vaults for MJ’s posthumously released album ‘Xscape’ and as far as I know, it is the only song by Michael named for an American city. Timbaland and a team of other producers handled the boards for this funky mid-tempo track about a philandering woman.

The music video for this one: MJ vs. a pre-“Passenger 57” Wesley Snipes. Michael proved once again that choreographed dance troupes will defeat evil every time!

In their happier days, MJ and ex-Beatle Paul McCartney engaged in silly battles over common love interests, while the rest of us sat back and laughed (and enjoyed).

People often forget that MJ’s solo career started in 1971 while the J5 were still hot. This was his third solo single for Motown and it reached the top 20 pop in 1972 (and No. 2 on the soul chart). It was co-written by Leon Ware and Arthur Ross, the latter of whom happens to be the little brother of Diana.

This might have been the 8th single release from ‘Thriller’ had Epic Records been so bold as to do so. As it turned out, they decided seven was enough - and this song is forever remembered as one of only two songs on the album not to be released in single form. The above clip is the rarely heard 6:11 version with the second verse that was never included in the album.

Written by newcomer Siedah Garrett, this take on self-reflection was the fourth No. 1 single from the album ‘Bad,’ a feat that tied it with the ‘Saturday Night Fever’ soundtrack as the only LPs up to that point to do it. MJ would later break the record with “Dirty Diana.”

Quick: who can remember the name of MJ’s beautiful love interest in the video for this No. 1 song from ‘Bad’?

At age 3, I had barely learned my ABCs when this song was a hit. By 1991 when it was sampled for “O.P.P.,” many of us quickly learned what that acronym meant, and wished we could forget.

This was probably Michael’s and his brothers’ best example of key modulation in all of their song catalog. It was also their first single to miss the top ten on the pop chart (in 1971).

The highly underrated second single from their ‘Victory’ album featured the vintage pairing of Jermaine and Michael on lead vocals. However neither one of them appeared in the video, which instead featured heavy doses of Jackie, Jermaine, Tito and Randy.

This was Michael’s first turn at disco - in its earlier, softer mid-1970s form. It was a glorious turn indeed - and one of the many love-doctor/doctor’s orders themed songs of its day (written by Brian and Eddie Holland of H-D-H Fame).

Who could ever get enough of this Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff written and produced soul gem from 1977? Not yours truly!