Tl;dr: Thriller. Whenever the history of music in the 1980s is told, there is only one definite version: There was once a guy named Michael, and then there was everyone else. Michael Jackson had done it all by the time he was 10 years old, but it was in the ‘80s when it all came together. He had shed the collective 350 lb that was Tito, Randy, Jermaine, and Marlon (took us a while to remember him) and met music legend Quincy Jones at the pinnacle of his musical abilities — just as music videos were becoming a thing. With that, he remade the world in his image. He reinvented dance with the gravity defying moonwalk (runtime: 13:42), breathed new life into MTV with the Thriller video (or the most stereotypically ‘80s [redacted] ever), and was a genre of music unto himself as far as record sales and awards were concerned. Thriller became certified 33-times Platinum last week, making it officially the highest selling album of all time.

Forget what he became in later life: Michael Jackson took entertainment to new highs before he took tabloid journalism to new lows (for many of us, it would be the first time to hear of Vitiligo). Regardless, It’s hard to imagine a time before MJ. So, we won’t. We all know his songs by heart. So in VH1 fashion, we count down the best of MJ:

1. Human Nature (watch, runtime: 3:23)
2. Billie Jean (watch, runtime: 4:55)
3. Thriller (watch, runtime: 13:42)
4. Man in the Mirror (watch, runtime: 5:54)
5. Beat it (watch, runtime: 4:58)
6. Wanna Be Startin Somethin (watch, runtime: 6:11)
7. Bad (watch, runtime: 18:05)
8. Leave Me Alone (watch, runtime: 4:38)
9. Smooth Criminal (watch, runtime: 9:26)
10. Rock With You (watch, runtime: 3:22)