Invincible

Popularity 78 /100
Invincible front cover
30 October 2001
Michael Jackson
Studio Album Invincible Era Dance-Pop Pop R&B Rock Urban
Michael Jackson's tenth and final studio album of original material released in his lifetime. Issued on 30 October 2001, Invincible was Jackson's first new studio album in six years and reportedly the most expensive ever produced at the time, costing $30 million. Despite a public falling-out with Sony curtailing promotion, it sold approximately 13 million copies worldwide.
Producers
Michael Jackson, Rodney Jerkins, Teddy Riley, Bruce Swedien, Brad Buxer, Dr. Freeze, Andreao Heard, Nate Smith, Andre Harris, Babyface, R. Kelly
Executive Producers
Michael Jackson
Studios
Hit Factory, New York
Hit Factory Criteria, Miami
Marvin's Room, Los Angeles
Record One Studios, Sherman Oaks
Recorded
1 October 1997 to 1 August 2001
Label
Epic Records
Runtime
77:08 · 16 tracks
Awards
2 wins · 1 nomination  Read more

Tracklist

  1. 01 Unbreakable 6:27
  2. 02 Heartbreaker 5:10
  3. 03 Invincible 4:46
  4. 04 Break of Dawn 5:32
  5. 05 Heaven Can Wait 4:50
  6. 06 You Rock My World Single 5:39
  7. 07 Butterflies Single 4:40
  8. 08 Speechless 3:19
  9. 09 2000 Watts 4:25
  10. 10 You Are My Life 4:34
  11. 11 Privacy 5:05
  12. 12 Don't Walk Away 4:25
  13. 13 Cry Single 5:01
  14. 14 The Lost Children 4:01
  15. 15 Whatever Happens 4:57
  16. 16 Threatened 4:18

Singles

Invincible is Michael Jackson’s tenth and final studio album of original material released during his lifetime. Issued on 30 October 2001 by Epic Records, it followed a six-year gap since HIStory and was reportedly produced over four years at a cost of approximately $30 million — making it, at the time, the most expensive album ever recorded.

Jackson built the album with Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins as his principal collaborator, alongside Teddy Riley, R. Kelly and his long-time engineer Bruce Swedien. The result is Jackson’s most contemporary-sounding album: heavy on Jerkins’s layered urban production, with rock guest spots from Slash on “Privacy” and Carlos Santana, and ballads (“Speechless”, “Butterflies”) that recall his Off the Wall vocal range.

The album debuted at #1 in 13 countries and produced three U.S. singles: “You Rock My World” (#10), “Cry” (international only) and “Butterflies” (US R&B). However, Jackson’s high-profile public falling-out with Sony chairman Tommy Mottola in 2002, including Jackson publicly accusing Mottola of being “the devil” and “racist”, led to severely curtailed label promotion. Jackson never toured Invincible.

Despite the limited push, Invincible sold an estimated 13 million copies worldwide. Critics were divided at the time but the album has been retrospectively praised for tracks like “Heaven Can Wait”, “Whatever Happens” and “Speechless”. Jackson never released another studio album of new material; the posthumous Michael (2010) and Xscape (2014) were assembled from unreleased recordings.

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