3 of the Best Michael Jackson Songs That Were Released Posthumously

The world stopped for a moment when the legendary Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009. At the time, the King of Pop was preparing for his final concert tour, the This Is It Tour. Although his death halted what could have been the biggest concert tour up to that point, it wasn’t the last his fans would be hearing from him musically. Here are some of my personal favorite Michael Jackson songs, from after his death.

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“This Is It”

Although it would later become part of a compliation album with the same name, “This Is It” was the first Michael Jackson song released after the singer’s death in 2009.

Originally, “This Is It” was a song called “I Never Heard,” which Jackson and songwriter Paul Anka collaborated on in the 80s.

Later, Anka would receive a call from TMZ, telling him that he was the writer on a new Michael Jackson song called “This Is It”. As it turned out, “I Never Heard” had been discovered in demo form in a box of Jackson’s old tapes. It was then renamed without Anka’s knowledge. However, after he threatened to take legal action against Jackson’s estate, the songwriter did receive partial credit.

“I don’t think that anybody tried to do the wrong thing,” Anka told Rolling Stone. “It was an honest mistake.”

“Chicago”

Released on Jackson’s Xscape album in 2014, this song was originally recorded for Invincible, but ultimately put on the shelf. Written by Cory Rooney, the song was first called “She Was Lovin’ Me”. However, it was renamed “Chicago” after producer Timbaland got his hands on it.

In recent years, “Chicago” has actually started trending on TikTok, further proving Jackson’s ability to remain relevant, even to new generations.

“Hold My Hand” (feat. Akon)

“Hold My Hand” became a lucky Michael Jackson hit for R&B star Akon, who helped write several songs for Whitney Houston’s I Look To You album.

“What people don’t know is that [Hold My Hand] is actually one of the first songs I wrote back then,” Kelly told Damien Shields. “He heard it and snatched it before he could even give it to Whitney because he wanted it for himself.”

Apparently, Akon showed Jackson the song while the star was working on his Thriller re-release project. Jackson was a huge fan of the track and ended up recording vocals on it. It wasn’t long before “Hold My Hand” became a song that the King of Pop was super excited about. Unfortunately, though, in 2008, the track was leaked to fans online, and the idea of releasing it went away for a while.

Then, in 2010, “Hold My Hand” was finally released as a single for the posthumous album Michael.

Photo by: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images