{"id":418042,"date":"2026-04-26T06:39:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T06:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/418042\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T06:39:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T06:39:17","slug":"which-michael-jackson-hits-made-the-cut-all-the-songs-featured-in-the-king-of-pops-biopic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/418042\/","title":{"rendered":"Which Michael Jackson hits made the cut? All the songs featured in the King of Pop’s biopic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Key Points<\/p>\n

Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic hits theaters on Friday.<\/p>\n

Rather than tracing his entire life, the film tracks Jackson’s origins with the Jackson 5 through the beginnings of his solo career.<\/p>\n

So, which songs from the King of Pop’s impressive catalog made the cut?<\/p>\n

They didn’t call him the King of Pop for nothing.<\/p>\n

Condensing the complicated legacy of Michael Jackson<\/a>‘s career into a single biopic presents many challenges. Among them is the fact that the singer’s catalog is packed with several unambiguous hits.<\/p>\n

Throughout his storied career, Jackson accumulated Grammys, topped international charts, and solidified his place in pop culture history as one of the best-selling music artists of all time.<\/p>\n

But at just under two hours, Antoine Fuqua<\/a>‘s biopic can only fit so many songs. In other words, don’t expect to hear every one of your favorites from Jaafar Jackson and Juliano Krue Valdi, the duo tasked with portraying the titular star as a child and young adult, respectively.<\/p>\n

\"Jaafar<\/p>\n

Jaafar Jackson recreates the “Thriller” music video in ‘Michael”
Credit: Lionsgate Movies\/Youtube<\/p>\n

Michael isn’t only limited by its runtime: the biopic covers a set period of Jackson’s career, meaning not all of his hits are on the table. Beginning with Valdi, the film traces the artist’s career from his origins with the Jackson 5 \u2014 where he stood out as the breakout star of the pivotal Motown group \u2014 to his years as a sensitive solo singer reforming his identity as an adult. Jaafar (Michael’s real-life nephew) portrays the singer as the film offers a glimpse of his early adult years, when he pioneered music videos and released some of his most famous tracks.<\/p>\n

In the end, the film closes out in 1988, never getting into his later artistry \u2014 including Michael’s slept-on hits from the ’90s. So which song made the cut?<\/p>\n

First up are the early hits, representing Jackson’s Motown era:<\/p>\n

“I’ll Be There” \u2014 Jackson 5<\/p>\n

“Never Can Say Goodbye” \u2014 Jackson 5<\/p>\n

“Who’s Lovin’ You” \u2014 Jackson 5<\/p>\n

Jackson 5 medley: “I Want You Back \/ ABC \/ The Love You Save”<\/p>\n

\"Judah<\/p>\n

Judah Edwards as Young Tito, Jaylen Hunter as Young Marlon, Juliano Krue Valdi as Young MJ, Nathaniel McIntyre as Young Jackie and Jayden Harville as Young Jermaine in “Michael”
Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate<\/p>\n

The film then transitions into covering Jackson’s groundbreaking solo run, highlighting songs from 1979’s Off the Wall, 1982’s Thriller, and 1987’s Bad. Those tracks include:<\/p>\n

“Don’t Stop’ Til You Get Enough” \u2014 Michael Jackson<\/p>\n

“Beat It” \u2014 Michael Jackson<\/p>\n

“Thriller” \u2014 Michael Jackson<\/p>\n

“Billie Jean” \u2014 Michael Jackson<\/p>\n

\u201cWanna Be Startin\u2019 Somethin\u2019\u201d \u2014 Michael Jackson<\/p>\n

“Human Nature” \u2014 Michael Jackson<\/p>\n

“Workin’ Day and Night” \u2014 Michael Jackson<\/p>\n

“Bad” \u2014 Michael Jackson<\/p>\n

The film, directed by Fuqua and written by John Logan, explores Jackson’s life both onstage and off as he delivers some of his most iconic performances.<\/p>\n

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with\u00a0our\u00a0EW Dispatch newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition to Jaafar and Krue, the cast also includes Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Miles Teller, Laura Harrier, Juliano Valdi, and KeiLyn Durrel Jones.<\/p>\n

The companion album will arrive April 24 \u2014 the same day Michael hits theaters.<\/p>\n

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key Points Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic hits theaters on Friday. Rather than tracing his entire life, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74284,93,61,60,75811,101932,75812,39478,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-418042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-antoine-fuqua","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-jaafar-jackson","13":"tag-jackson-5","14":"tag-michael","15":"tag-michael-jackson","16":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}