Off the Wall

Jackson's fifth solo album was the first produced by Quincy Jones, whom he had worked with on The Wiz. Sessions ran at Los Angeles studios from 4 December 1978 to 3 June 1979, with most of the work done in December. Rhythm tracks and vocals were cut at Allen Zentz Recording, the horns at Westlake Audio and the strings at Cherokee Studios in West Hollywood. Bruce Swedien mixed it at Westlake. Jackson wanted creative freedom and a record that did not sound like the Jacksons, and he made it apart from his family, though his brother Randy played percussion on Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough. Jackson wrote three of the songs. Tom Bahler wrote She's Out of My Life and Stevie Wonder wrote I Can't Help It. Jones called in the Heatwave keyboardist Rod Temperton to write three songs, among them Rock with You and Off the Wall. Jackson stayed up all night learning the lyrics and sang the vocals for all three in two sessions. On the cover he wears a tuxedo, which manager John Branca said was the team's idea, with socks that were Jackson's own.

The album reached three on the Billboard Top LPs and Tape chart and spent 16 weeks at number one on the R&B albums chart. It sold three million copies in the US before the end of 1979 and was the best-selling album of 1980 there, according to Rolling Stone and The National Leader. It has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough and Rock with You reached number one on the Hot 100, and Off the Wall and She's Out of My Life reached number 10. Nominated for two Grammys, it won one, which left Jackson disappointed. Stephen Holden of Rolling Stone wrote that it represented "discofied post-Motown glamour at its classiest." Tom Ewing of the Guardian wrote that it is the album critics routinely hail as Jackson's masterpiece. Rolling Stone placed it at 36 on its 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums, and it is one of the albums in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. A 2016 reissue came with Spike Lee's documentary Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall.