Michael Joseph Jackson, The King of Pop, was the most influential, successful and renowned singers and entertainers of all time, as well as one of the most prominent pop culture figures of the previous century. As a member of the Jackson family, he was a member of the collective The Jackson 5, whose global crossover success allowed Michael to start a parallel solo career, starting with Got to be There and Ben, both 1972 successful releases with little creative input from Michael himself, and the continuing with 1973's Music & Me and 1975's Forever, Michael, with similar releases to his debuts albeit without the commercial success. After The Jackson 5 left Motown Records for Epic Records, Michael also moved his solo career there while alternating as the main songwriter and de facto leader of the now-called The Jacksons; his fifth solo album, the disco influenced Off The Wall, was released in 1979 to widespread critical and commercial success, and established him as a solo performer; the release was followed by two Motown releases of shelved Michael recordings: 1984's Farewell My Summer Love and 1986's Looking Back To Yesterday, both releases went mostly unnoticed. 1982's Thriller followed and became a cultural phenomenon, breaking multiple chart records and becoming the best-selling album of all time; the videos for the tracks Billie Jean, Beat It and Thriller were cultural touchstones, and established Michael as the most innovative and important visual artist of its time. With Michael's popularity, and scrutiny around his private life, reaching all-time high levels he returned, after having left The Jacksons, his 1987's album Bad was highly anticipated and managed to break multiple chart records and get enough widespread acclaim to establish Jackson as the largest artist of the decade. In 1991 Michael changed his sound (from pop to new jack swing) and returned with Dangerous, another rousing critical and commercial hit; in 1993, during the promotional world tour Jackson was accused of molestation and stopped the remainder of the promotion for the album, the charges were settled out of court. Owning to the constant public and press scrutiny, Michael released HIStory: Past, Present, and Future, Book I in1995, half an studio album and half a greatest hits compilation, featuring more conscious lyrics and a more variated sound; the release received a positive response and was another hit. In 2001 Michael's last studio album, Invincible, premiered to a mixed critical and commercial response, and it barely received any promotion due to Michael's issues with his label. Between more public controversies and legal issues he started working on an album which he never completed; during his last months of life in 2009 he was working on a comeback tour, This Is It, but he passed away at the age of 49 from what was later determined to be a medicine overdose caused by his doctor's malpractice. After his death, his estate engaged in multiple releases and productions, mostly notably two posthumous albums: 2010's Michael and 2014's Xscape.

Michael was known for his multiple philanthropic contributions including, but not limited to, the superstar charity single We Are The World (which raised over $63 million for humanitarian aid in Africa), the creation of his charity Heal The World Foundation in 1992 and the mini-tour MJ & Friends in 1999 to raise funds for children war-torn countries; he also notably donated his royalties and payments from multiple endeavors to charity like $1.5 million to a Californian hospital from a settlement he got from Pepsi in 1985, $5 million to multiple charities from the ticket sales of the Jackson's Victory Tour, and the entire proceeds of his singles Man in the Mirror, Heal The World and Gone Too Soon. Michael is often considered the most influential and important pop star of all time, with his music, visuals, fashion, dancing, live performances and generally ambitious artistry becoming influential to multiple generations of artists; his videos in particular are considered particularly relevant to the medium's existence and his status as a black artist is often mentioned as being responsible of breaking multiple race barriers in the music industry. Outside of music and charitable works, Michael appeared in multiple visual productions like the 1978 musical film The Wiz, the 1986 Disney theme park short film Captain EO, the 1988 anthology film Moonwalker, the 1997 musical short film Michael Jackson's Ghosts and the 2009 documentary Michael Jackson's This Is It; he is also the subject of two Cirque Du Soleil shows (2011's Immortal and 2013's One), a videogame (2010's Michael Jackson: The Experience) and a Broadway musical (Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, slated to debut in 2020), among other endeavors.

Having sold over 350 million records worldwide, including the best-selling album, best-selling double album and best-selling VHS tape, Jackson is considered the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time by the Guinness World Records and still holds multiple chart records worldwide. He has been recognized with 15 Grammy Awards (including the Grammy Legend Award and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), 24 American Music Awards (including Artist of the Century), 13 Billboard Music Awards, 12 Guinness World Records and 5 MTV Video Music Awards (including the Video Vanguard Award, later renamed after him), and has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (twice), the National Museum of Dance Hall of Fame (the only recording artist so far), the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.