Twenty-nine years ago today Michael Jackson released perhaps his most important album… Dangerous.
Sonically groundbreaking, spiritually profound, sexually provocative and socially conscious, Dangerous exploded onto the music market on November 26th, 1991, taking Michael to new global audiences and cementing his position not only as the King of Pop, but an artist willing to illuminate and challenge some of the world’s most important issues.
In many ways, the album is relevant now more than ever. Dangerous introduced the world to Teddy Riley's new jack-swing.
It signified Jackson's most fervent embrace of hip-hop and rap, and it was a departure from the solely sweet love jams of early-20s MJ as he now sang about lust and shattered hearts. At 33, and at the peak of his career, this would ultimately become one of the greatest, introspective albums of all time.
Dangerous debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 Top Albums chart, as well as in ten other countries, and was the best-selling album worldwide of 1992. Nine singles premiered between November 1991 and December 1993, including two exclusively released outside the United States.
The album produced four singles that reached top ten of the Billboard Hot 100: "Remember the Time", "In the Closet", "Will You Be There" and the number-one single "Black or White". The Dangerous World Tour grossed $100 million (equivalent to $177 million in 2019), making it one of the highest-grossing tours of the 1990s.
Dangerous is one of the best-selling albums of all time having sold over 32 million copies worldwide, and was certified 8× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in August 2018.
Listen to Dangerous below.