Michael Jackson singles discography: History and Key Facts

American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson (1958–2009) released 67 singles as a lead artist and eight as a featured artist. As one of the best-selling artists of all time, Jackson has sold over 500 million records worldwide. In the United States, Jackson has amassed 13 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era), and became the first artist to ever have top-ten singles in the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades. In 2012, Jackson was ranked the fifth best selling singles artist in the United Kingdom, with 15.3 million singles sold.

Jackson's first solo entry on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart was "Got to Be There", released in 1971, which peaked at number four. Jackson's first number-one hit on the chart was "Ben", released in 1972. Jackson continued to release singles throughout the 1970s. His fifth album, Off the Wall (1979), contains five singles, including the chart-topping hits "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You". Both are certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States for sales in excess of 6 million copies. The next two singles—"Off the Wall" and "She's Out of My Life"—also reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and made Jackson the first solo artist to have four singles from the same album reach the U.S. top 10.

His sixth album, Thriller (1982), contains "The Girl Is Mine" (a collaboration with Paul McCartney), which was released as the first single from the album. The single peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. "Billie Jean", released as the album's second single, topped the charts in 13 countries, including the United States. The single sold more than 10 million copies in the United States and over 1.4 million in the United Kingdom. "Beat It", released a month later, peaked at number one in nine countries and sold more than eight million copies in the United States. "Thriller", released as a single in November 1983, peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The single sold 10 million copies in the US alone, making it Jackson's best-selling single. In 1983, Jackson once again collaborated with McCartney on "Say Say Say", released as the first single from McCartney's Pipes of Peace album. It was a number-one hit in the United States.

Jackson's seventh album, Bad (1987), contains nine singles with seven charting in the United States. Five of these singles ("I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana"), reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, a record for most number-one singles from any one album.

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