Ben Songwriting Credits by Michael Jackson

Ben is the second solo studio album by Michael Jackson, released in August 1972 on Motown Records as a companion to the horror film of the same name, produced by Barry de Vorzon and Hal Davis with input from the broader Motown session infrastructure, continuing the solo development strategy that had launched with Got to Be There earlier the same year. Jackson wrote no original material on the album; the title track, a ballad about a boy's friendship with a rat that was composed by Don Black and Walter Scharf for the film soundtrack, was released as a single and became Jackson's first solo number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 at age 14. The album's content otherwise follows the Motown formula established on the debut: orchestrated ballads and uptempo numbers written by professional staff songwriters, with Jackson serving as interpreter rather than author. 'Ben' received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song and is credited as the track that established Jackson's ability to communicate genuine emotion rather than just technical proficiency in performance, a distinction that would define his subsequent career. The album reached number five on the Billboard 200 and marked the second commercial success in rapid succession for the solo program, confirming the label's decision to develop Jackson as a standalone commercial entity alongside The Jackson 5.