In a career that spanned almost all 50 years of his life, Michael Jackson became a mainstay on the Billboard charts. It was his dominance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100, however, that entered him into the record books: As a solo artist, 13 of his singles went to No. 1 – the most by a male artist – and an additional four songs by the Jackson 5 also topped the chart.
He first saw success as part of the family band the Jackson 5, who notched massive hits for Motown right off the bat. Michael was earning solo hits even before parting ways with the group, although chart hits from the Jackson 5 and the Jacksons are well represented here on this list of his biggest hits.
Although 1979’s Quincy Jones-produced Off the Wall was his fifth album, it was there that Michael Jackson the adult artist began to take shape and he began to take those first few bolds steps toward claiming the King of Pop crown. The follow-up, 1982’s Thriller, became one of the best-selling albums of all time and spent an astonishing 37 weeks atop the Billboard 200; its seven singles all reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, with two Thriller classics topping the chart. Success continued throughout the ’90s, and while his chart power had waned at the time of his death at age 50 in 2009, he remains one of the biggest artists in music history.
This ranking is based on weekly performance on the Hot 100 (from its inception on Aug. 4, 1958, through April 16, 2022). Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at lower spots earning the least. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted differently to account for chart turnover rates during various periods. Songs are ranked based on a formula blending performance, as outlined above.