MJ's favorite songs of his own career.

[Spaceship]

I know that in 2001, during an audio chat with fans, he said his favorite songs on Invincible were "Unbreakable", "Speechless" and "The Lost Children". He also said that "You Are My Life" was a song that he'd like to perform for the rest of his life, along with "Speechless" and "Heal the World".

In 1995, during an audio chat with fans, he said his favorite songs on History were "Childhood", "Earth Song" and "Stranger in Moscow". He also said that his favorite songs in his whole career were the older ones he did with Motown, namely "Got to Be There" and "Ben". So, I guess he felt the most attachment to his early solo songs.

I'm guessing "Heal the World" was his favorite song on Dangerous; he named a charity organization after it and I recall reading that he said it was the song he was most proud of in his whole career. I'm sure he also liked "Will You Be There", "Gone Too Soon", "Black or White" and "Who Is It" a lot, seeing as he wrote those by himself.

So, yeah, I think of his adult songs, he was most proud of the songs he wrote. Although he did single out "Man in the Mirror", which he didn't write, as one of his favorites on Bad in a 1987 interview with Jet. I think "Smooth Criminal" was also one of his favorites; he fought to keep it on the album when Quincy wanted it off and even wanted to name the album after it.

I think it's safe to say "Billie Jean" was his favorite song on Thriller. He did mention many times that he was satisfied by how the song turned out, particularly its bass lick. He also said he was proud of "Beat It", another song he wrote. He wasn't satisfied with "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and "The Girl is Mine", though.

I think "Don't Stop til You Get Enough" was his favorite on Off the Wall. But it may have been "She's Out of My Life".

 

[filmandmusic]

When he introduced "one day in your life" on his live shows he always stated it was one of his favorites because it was a ballad. So it is not surprising to see the list of personal favorites you named in your post @Spaceship. It seems he usually preferred the ballads and so do I most of the time because it showcases his beautiful voice and way of phrasing and breathing so well.

Good thread!

 

[mj_frenzy]

In 1999 (April), when Michael Jackson was in England some fans asked him candidly which songs of his own career were his favorite songs.

The singer again mentioned 'Earth Song' and 'Stranger In Moscow' as his two favorite songs.

'Speechless' was one of his favorite songs judging not only by his 2001 interview but also by the fact that he asked the DJ to play that song in the introduction of his 'Killer Thriller' Speech in 2002 (London).

'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'' was also one of his favorite songs in general because he always wanted to perform it on stage in his tours.

He also often cited 'Smile' as one of his favorite songs, and that was the reason why he decided to record his version of it.

He also described 'Childhood' as his favorite and most honest song.

It seems odd that his favorite songs were mostly ballads/mid-tempo songs considering that he was known mainly as a pop artist with danceable, energetic songs.

 

[SmoothCriminal1995]

He said "I love Dirty Diana, it's one of my favourites" in the Ebony Jet interview in 1987.
I think in interviews MJ tended to say his philanthropic songs were his favourites

 

[Spaceship]

'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'' was also one of his favorite songs in general because he always wanted to perform it on stage in his tours.

That could just be because it's a well-known song, and he may have felt it sounded better live. He said he wasn't satisfied with how it turned out on the album, so he probably performed it so many times onstage to compensate.

He said "I love Dirty Diana, it's one of my favourites" in the Ebony Jet interview in 1987.

Ah, I forgot that part. So his favorites on Bad were "Smooth Criminal", "Dirty Diana" and "Man in the Mirror".