1995
HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
Epic Records | Produced by Michael Jackson, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, R. Kelly
A massive double album featuring a greatest hits collection alongside new material that showcased Michael's most personal and defiant work.
Jun 20, 1995
Release Date
20M+
Copies Sold
$7M
Video Budget
The monumental HIStory album artwork
Overview
HIStory was Michael's most ambitious project—a double album with one disc of greatest hits and another of new material. The new songs were deeply personal, addressing the media scrutiny and false allegations that had plagued him. The album campaign was one of the most expensive in history.
Track List
1Scream (with Janet Jackson)
4:382They Don't Care About Us
4:443Stranger in Moscow
5:444This Time Around
4:215Earth Song
6:466D.S.
4:507Money
4:418Come Together
4:009You Are Not Alone
5:4510Childhood
4:2811Tabloid Junkie
4:32122 Bad
4:4913HIStory
6:3714Little Susie
6:1315Smile
4:55Interesting Trivia
- 1Best-selling multiple-disc album of all time
- 2The promotional campaign cost over $30 million, including the famous statue floating down the Thames
- 3Contains some of Michael's most personal and defiant songs
- 4'Earth Song' became his biggest UK hit, spending 6 weeks at #1
- 5The album was promoted with nine 30-foot statues of Michael erected around Europe
- 6'Scream' with Janet Jackson had the most expensive music video ever made at the time ($7 million)
- 7The HIStory World Tour became the highest-grossing concert tour at that time
The futuristic Scream video with Janet Jackson