Our annual Michael Jackson Fans’ Ultimate Anthology Poll has now closed after three weeks of voting, and the results are in!
We wanted to give you the chance to vote for your favourite Michael Jackson works without the usual limitations of only being able to choose from the classics. This yearly poll will find out what Michael’s fans have been enjoying over the past 12 months.
Here are the results!
CATEGORY ONE – SONGS
Your Top Michael Jackson Song: Man In The Mirror
If you were expecting dramatic changes on last year’s top 10, then you’re going to be disappointed. For this year’s top 10, 8 tracks remain in the list from 2020. However, Man In The Mirror made its way to the top spot sending Billie Jean into second place.
Here’s the full top 10 in order of votes:
Top 10 Michael Jackson Songs
- Man In The Mirror
- Billie Jean
- Smooth Criminal
- They Don’t Care About Us
- Human Nature
- Earth Song
- Will You Be There
- Who Is It
- Stranger In Moscow
- Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
And here’s your bottom 10 (from top to last)
- Privacy
- Cheater
- Beautiful Girl
- Girlfriend
- Heartbreaker
- Todo Me Amore Eres Tu
- In The Black
- Burn This Disco Out
- Scared of the Moon
- The Girl Is Mine / We Are Here To Change The World
Points of note from this category.
- Voters were able to choose 10 songs each in this category
- Will You Be There & Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough were new entries to the top 10, while Dirty Diana and Beat It both lost their positions.
- Smooth Criminal, They Don’t Care About Us and Human Nature retained their 2020 positions
- Monkey Business & Sunset Driver climbed their way out of the bottom, while Burn This Disco Out, The Girl Is Mine and We Are Here To Change The World all made new appearances in your 10 least listened to MJ Tracks.
- No songs from Invincible, Michael or Xscape made the top 10
- Scared Of The Moon received the least number of votes
CATEGORY TWO – POSTHUMOUS SONGS
Your Top Posthumous Michael Jackson Song: THIS IS IT
As we’ve had no new mainstream releases from the Estate in the past year, the selection of posthumous songs to choose from remained the same. Mirroring 2020, This Is It once again took the top spot, with Hold My Hand in second place and a Place With No Name in third.
Top 10 Posthumous Michael Jackson Songs
- This Is It
- Hold My Hand
- A Place With No Name
- Love Never Felt So Good
- Hollywood Tonight
- Behind The Mask
- Slave To The Rhythm
- Xscape
- Al Capone
- Loving You
Points of note from this category.
- Best of Joy did not take a position in the top spot this year, missing out on a place by 9 votes.
- Loving You made its first appearance in the top 10 this year, at number 10
- None of the 2014 remixed versions of the songs on Xscape made it into the top 10.
- Je Ne Veux Pas La Fin De Nous received the lowest number of votes
- The Cascio Tracks were not included in the poll.
CATEGORY THREE – SOLO STUDIO ALBUMS
Your Top Michael Jackson Album: Dangerous
In the year that Dangerous turns 30, it came out on top again as your favourite album for 2021. Leading by a huge margin, it receive 121% more votes than Thriller, which turns 40 this year.
Points of note from this category.
- Xscape / Music & Me tied in joint last place
- Thriller maintained its position in 4th place behind Dangerous, Bad and HIStory
- Blood On The Dance Floor album was not included owing to its mix of remixes and new songs
- Just 3 votes separated Off The Wall and Invincible
CATEGORY FOUR – SOLO TOURS
Your Top Michael Jackson Solo Tour: Bad Tour
Once again, Bad Tour took the top stop as your top Michael Jackson Solo Tour. Many point to Michael’s live vocals, energy and raw organic dancing as reasons to place Bad Tour in their top position. However, this year there was a much smaller margin between Bad & Dangerous Tour.
CATEGORY FIVE – SOLO GREATEST HITS ALBUM
Your Top Michael Jackson Greatest Hits Album: The Ultimate Collection
It’s no surprise that The Ultimate Collection was once again voted your favourite greatest hits, after all it contains all the hits plus multiple unreleased tracks. How long The Ultimate Collection will retain this position in to the future is anybody’s guess, especially as it’s still not available on streaming services #JusticeforUltimateCollection
Points of note from this category.
- The Essential Michael Jackson overtook Number Ones to secure 2nd position. Although just 14 votes separate the two.
- Scream compilation album received just 26 votes, a drop on last year’s total
- Visionary came in last position
CATEGORY SIX – JACKSON 5 ALBUM
Your Top Jackson 5 Album: ABC
For the second year in a row, ABC took the top spot leaving other Jackson 5 albums in the dust. Perhaps its success with the fans is rooted in two of the most iconic Jackson 5 songs – ABC and The Love You Save. In addition, ABC was re-issued on limited edition vinyl by Motown at the end of 2021, helping generate renewed interest in the album.
Points of note from this category.
- Skywriter received the least number of votes for the second year in a row.
- Christmas Album moved up to 3rd place – a clear nod to the increased popularity it’s gaining year on year.
- Just one vote separated Get It Together and Moving Violation.
CATEGORY SEVEN – JACKSONS ALBUM
Your Top Jacksons Album: Triumph
No surprises that Triumph came out on top yet again as it is constantly referred to as the fans’ favourite Jacksons album. As a cross-over album from the disco era, it’s perfectly constructed and though it mastered the sound of the time, the songs are still enjoyed today. Of course the 2021 expanded version released on streaming platforms helped to give it a boost.
Points of note from this category.
- Goin’ Places came in last place once again, receiving less votes than 2300 Jackson Street.
- Destiny took second place this year, pushing Victory down to third position
- Only 5 votes separated Destiny and Victory
CATEGORY EIGHT – SHORT FILM
Your Top Michael Jackson Short Film: Smooth Criminal
Well Smooth Criminal reached the top spot again to the surprise of nobody, and much of the top 10 looked similar to 2020. However, She’s Out Of My Life made it in to number 8 which IS surprising, but maybe 2021 was a time for reflection, where we just pulled up a stall and sit there.
Top 10 Michael Jackson Short Films
- Smooth Criminal
- Thriller
- GHOSTS
- Remember The Time
- Earth Song
- Black Or White
- BAD
- She’s Out Of My Life
- They Don’t Care About Us (Prison Version)
- They Don’t Care About Us (Brazil Version)
Points of note from this category.
- They Don’t Care About Us Prison and Brazil versions were separated by one point
- All of the posthumous short films made up the bottom of the category
- Despite not being in the short film, Man In The Mirror charted higher than Beat It, Dirty Diana, Leave Me Alone and In The Closet
- Come Together was your least favourite short film that Michael was officially in.
Thank you to everyone who voted and helped provide some fascinating insights into the taste within the Michael Jackson Fan Community. We look forward to finding out the results of 2022.
MJVibe & MJChartData
Data and summary of results by Pez Jax
Come Together is certainly not my ‘least favourite’ MJ short film. I love that clip!
Very comprehensive report. With my favourite album (Blood on the Dance Floor – because of its ‘new’ tracks) excluded, my personal interest was curtailed somewhat.
Very interesting to see the results of the posthumous releases poll – no surprise at all that none of the Xscape ‘contemporised’ tracks made it.
Hello MJVibe,
I missed once again in theUltimate Anthology Poll 2021 the ANOTHER PART OF ME Video. There was no Way to vote for it.
Maybe You can made it for the next time available.
Kind regards
Marcel from Germany
I love the results