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Ben
Studio album by Michael Jackson
Released	August 4, 1972
Recorded	1971-1972
Genre	Bubblegum pop/Soul
Length	??
Label	Motown
Producer	Hal Davis
Professional reviews
Rolling Stone link
Michael Jackson chronology
Got to Be There (1972) Ben (1972) A Collection Of Michael Jackson's Oldies (1972)

Ben was the second full-length solo album by teenage pop-soul music phenomenon Michael Jackson. Released in August 1972, seven months after his auspicious debut as a soloist, Got to Be There, the album showcased a Jackson in vocal and artistic growth. A number of the songs on the album are ballads, a genre which was rare in the main Jackson 5 repertoire, but would become a staple of Michael Jackson's over the course of his four-decade solo career.

The album's title track helped separate Jackson from his family and his pop music contemporaries convincing an audience he could belt out a ballad, even though the song was dedicated to a rat, that was eulogized in the 1972 film that gives the album its name. However, no one noticed, as the song became the first of Jackson's thirteen #1 solo hit singles, and garnered both a Golden Globe award win and an Academy Award nomination. The album peaked at #5 Pop and #4 R&B upon its release.

1. "Ben" (Black/Scharf)
2. "The Greatest Show on Earth" (Larson/Marcellino)
3. "People Make the World Go Round" (Bell/Creed)
4. "We've Got a Good Thing Going" (The Corporation)
5. "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" (Adams/Hampton)
6. "My Girl" (Robinson/White)
7. "What Goes Around Comes Around" (Levinsky/Stokes/Meyers/Weatherspoon)
8. "In Our Small Way" (Verdi/Yarian)
9. "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" (Cosby/Moy/Wonder)
10. "You Can Cry On My Shoulder" (Gordy)

• "Ben" - #1 Pop Singles Chart; #5 Soul Singles Chart, #3 Easy Listening Singles Chart

The original release of Ben's cover art contained Michael and a large army of rats near the bottom of the cover. However, Motown feared that the rats would scare some of the children from having their parents buy the album, and later pressings contained Michael sans the rats. The original cover is now a rarity.