Studio Album · No. 12
Destiny Songwriting Credits by The Jacksons
Produced by The Jacksons, Bobby Colomby, Mike Atkinson · Engineered by Don Murray, Peter Granet
The Jacksons wrote 7 of 8 documented tracks
Authorship Breakdown 7 / 8 documented
Scored across the 8 tracks with documented writers, by whether The Jacksons carries a lyricist or composer credit.
Share of the 8 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.
By the Numbers
Destiny was the first album where the Jacksons held complete artistic control, producing the record themselves with Bobby Colomby and Mike Atkinson as executive producers. Michael and Randy Jackson wrote most of the material, including the breakout hit 'Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground),' and every track except the lead single 'Blame It on the Boogie' was credited to the band members. The album proved the brothers could write and produce a commercially successful record without outside hitmakers.
Destiny is The Jacksons' fourth studio album overall and their third on Epic Records, released October 16, 1978. It is their most historically significant album: the first record in which the brothers wrote and produced their own material, marking a decisive break from their Motown and early Epic years as interpreted performers of outside material. Michael Jackson and Randy Jackson are the primary songwriters, with 'Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)', a sprawling disco-funk workout that ran over eight minutes in its full 12-inch version, becoming the album's commercial centerpiece and reaching number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. Significantly, 'Blame It on the Boogie', though it appears on the album, was not written by the Jacksons but by Mick Jackson (no relation), a British soul singer, along with Elmar Krohn and David Jackson. 'Destiny' itself, the album's ambitious closing suite, is a full group composition. The album demonstrated that Michael Jackson was developing rapidly as a songwriter and musical thinker, a trajectory that would soon produce Off the Wall and Thriller.