Number Ones (video)

Number Ones is a video album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on DVD on November 13, 2003 under the Epic Records record label, in conjunction with the promotion for Jackson's greatest hits album, of the same name (although the album and DVD have different songs). The DVD, which is Jackson's fourth DVD album, contained fifteen music videos, which were directed and produced by various people. It consists of music videos filmed and released by Jackson from 1979's Off the Wall to 2001's Invincible. As with the album, the DVD has four different covers.

Notable music videos included on the DVD were "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and Thriller—which received heavy rotation on MTV in the 1980s, and are credited as having transformed the music video from a promotional tool and into an art form, and "Black or White" which was also prominent on channels like MTV in the 1990s. Number Ones received praise from contemporary music critics and was commercially successful internationally. The DVD peaked at number one on the Australian Top 40 Music DVD in Australia.

Background[]

In 1972, while still a member of the band The Jackson 5, Michael Jackson released his first of what would be ten studio albums, Got to Be There. Four singles were taken from the album, although they were not promoted by music videos, and this pattern continued for his next three studio albums, Ben (1972), Music & Me (1973) and Forever, Michael (1975). Unlike in the past, Jackson released his debut music video for the lead single, "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", from his 1979 album, Off the Wall. Jackson subsequently began releasing music videos for his singles to promote both the song itself and the album. His music videos from the 1980s — particularly the music videos for "Billie Jean" and Thriller — received heavy rotation on channels like Music Television (MTV). The popularity of his music videos that aired on MTV, such as "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and Thriller — credited for transforming the music video from a promotional tool and into an art form — helped bring the relatively new channel to fame. Music videos such as "Black or White" made Jackson an enduring staple on MTV in the 1990s. Some of them drew criticism for their violent and sexual content, others were lauded by critics and awarded Guinness World Records for their length, success and expense. From 1979 to 2003, Jackson released thirty-six music videos.

Content and release[]

Number Ones was released in conjunction with Jackson's greatest number one hits of the same name on November 18, 2003. The DVD was released worldwide on November 13, 2003. Number Ones is the fourth DVD album to be released by Jackson. The DVD contained ninety one minutes of music video Jackson had already released from as early as 1979, to as late as 2001. This compilation was also released in Asia on double Video CD format.

Music videos from Jackson's Sony studio albums, which were Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995), Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix (1997) and Invincible (2001), were featured on the DVD. The DVD consisted of fifteen music videos, both long and short form versions. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (1987), "Break of Dawn" (2001), the then newly recorded "One More Chance" (2003) and a live version of "Ben" (1972) did not make it onto the DVD (while no music videos were shot for the first two singles, the music video for "One More Chance" would later be released in Michael Jackson's Vision), while "Blood on the Dance Floor" (1997), which was on the DVD, was not on the American version of the album of the same name, same with "Man in the Mirror" for the international version of the album.

Tracklist[]

Trivia[]

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Smooth Criminal, and Blood on the Dance Floor were excluded on the Chinese version.

Michael Jackson Wiki