1.) Off the Wall: Michael's first album, post Jackson 5, and in my opinion his magnum opus. Recorded and released in 1979, Off the Wall blends disco, pop, soft-rock and jazz. It was the first collaboration of MJ and the legendary Quincy Jones. One of the best partnerships in the history of music, they would later collaborate on Jackson's album's Thriller and Bad. Off the Wall set the benchmark for Jackson's career and contributed heavily to the anticipation and success of Thriller. Best songs: It's the Falling in Love, Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough.
2.) Dangerous: The birth of Michael Jackson as an individual artist. Of the 14 tracks, Jackson produced or co-produced 12 of them. This was also the first album Jackson did not work with Quincy Jones, who urged Jackson to change his approach to music and recommended Teddy Riley and his revolutionary New Jack Swing sound. MJ also wrote 12 of the 14 songs, letting his voice be known as opposed to previous albums where the songs were written by other artists such as Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. Best songs: Who is it, Give in to Me, Why You Wanna Trip on Me.
3.) Bad: Originally intended to be a duet between Jackson and Prince, Bad is MJ's third solo studio album. Jackson wrote 9 of the 11 tracks and Quincy Jones handled the production, Bad being the last collaboration between the two. Building on his previous album Thriller, Jackson continued his pop chart dominance by debuting, for the first time in his career, at number one on the Billboard Top 200 and remained there for 6 weeks while amassing 30 million records sold. Best songs: Man in the Mirror, Dirty Diana, The Way You Make Me Feel.
Billie Jean is my favorite MJ song of all time but the rest of Thriller just isn't that good with throwaways like Baby Be Mine and The Girl is Mine. This being the reason that Thriller did not make my top 3, top 5 definitely, but not top 3. I wish there were more MJ albums on the way but sadly this is not the case.
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