A Listening Guide to the Jackson 5 Albums in Order

• Our favorite track: "Who's Lovin' You"

Couple thing here. First of all, now's the perfect time to rewatch The Jackson 5's performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Second of all, what a way to make a debut. The group recorded the album at Motown's legendary Hitsville U.S.A. studio working with producer Bobby Taylor, and it was this album that brought us the group's debut single "I Want You Back." It didn't take look for this first record to become a success with fun tracks to accompany the aforementioned such as "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," and their covers of Smokey Robinson's "Who's Lovin' You," and Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour."

Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 was a big success, reaching No. 5 on the US Pop Albums Charts, and No. 1 on the US R&B Albums Chart where it remained for nine weeks.

• Our favorite track: "The Love You Save"

J5's sophomore album, ABC, achieved even more success with the number one singles "ABC" and "The Love You Save." Similar to the group's first record, the album was a mixture of original songs and a couple of covers, peaking at No.4 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart. In addition to "ABC" and "The Love You Save," other standouts from this project include "Never Had a Dream Come True" (which was written by Stevie Wonder by the way), "La-La (Means I Love You)," and "2-4-6-8," which I personally believe could have been a single as well.

• Our favorite track: "I'll Be There"

You can thank 1970's Third Album for giving us the forever legendary "I'll Be There," which is a song guaranteed to make you cry all while being stuck in your head at the same time. "I'll Be There" was J5's fourth consecutive number one, which helped propel the album to another chart success. Aside from "I'll Be There," the track "Goin' Back to Indiana" is a fun one, and so is "Oh How Happy." Also, Jermaine did his thing with "Bridge Over Troubled Water," which was a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's from earlier that year. Third Album remains one of The Jackson 5's best sellers to date.

• Our Favorite Track: "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"

Have you ever walked through a grocery/department store during the holidays and heard what you thought was a young Michael Jackson singing Christmas Carols? That was not a figment of your imagination—The Jackson 5 did release a holiday album entitled Jackson 5 Christmas Album in October 1970, which featured the group singling all the holiday classics. Our favorite is their rendition of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," but all of the songs on this album sound amazing.

• Our favorite track: "Never Can Say Goodbye"

"Even though the pain and heartache seems to follow me wherever I go. Though I try and try to hide my feelings, they always seem to show." 1971's Maybe Tomorrow is what gave us the classic "Never Can Say Goodbye," and, of course, "Maybe Tomorrow." There's also much to be said about the band's covers of "Sixteen Candles," and "Honey Chile." The songs "My Little Baby" and "The Wall" are really enjoyable too—the whole dang album is enjoyable! Oh, and this album has been sampled heavily too.

• Our favorite track: "Lookin' Through the Windows"

If "Lookin' Through the Windows" doesn't automatically remind you of Steve Harvey, you aren't a real one. Recorded in 1971, Lookin' Through the Windows is a nice little early 1970s album that slowly started to open the door for what we would see from the group as they matured. "Lookin' Through The Windows," and "Little Bitty Pretty One" were the hit singles from the record, but I would personally like to call out "To Know" on Side One and "If I Have to Move a Mountain" on Side Two. Those were some good jams too.

• Our favorite track: "The Boogie Man"

There comes a point in every successful artist's career where the topic of creative control begins to get discussed. Creative control is something that is granted far more easily now then what it was years ago, and despite all of The Jackson 5's success up to that point, they weren't getting a satisfactory amount of it. 1973 was when that turning point began to happen for the group, but that doesn't mean the album can't be creatively appreciated. "Hallelujah Day" was beautiful vocally, and "Skywriter" was cool. So was "The Boogie Man" for that matter. A nice record to go back and revisit to see and hear the maturation of the group.

• Our favorite track: "Dancing Machine"

Before The Moonwalk, there was The Robot, which was seen and popularized by way of J5's hit single "Dancing Machine." If you want to talk funky laidback 1970s grooves, it doesn't get any groovier than "Dancing Machine," which earned the group their second Grammy nomination in 1975. Michael's Robot dance was in no way shape or form human, and a preview of what we would get from him in the future. It was also a glimpse of the power he would eventually hold over the general public because guess who started doing The Robot after Michael debuted it? Everybody. That's who.

G.I.T: Get It Together is a comprehensive body of work that tells a story from start to finish. Each song flows seamlessly to the next, and the album is one that you can put on around the house, while driving, etc. An underrated one in my opinion as well.

• Our favorite track: "I Am Love"

You might be wondering why this album was entitled Dancing Machine if the song was originally released on G.I.T.: Get It Together. That's because the track was put onto this album as well, and selected to be the song that would lead this respective era. The album was released on September 5th, 1974, and coincided with the time the entire Jackson family (LeToya, Janet, and Rebbie included) were doing their Las Vegas shows.

Sidenote: If there are any recordings of these Vegas shows that would be super cool to see as these shows received rave reviews. Is there a way we could make this happen? Please?

• Our favorite track: "Forever Came Today"

1975's Moving Violation is kind of a bittersweet moment in Jackson 5 history because it sadly marked the end of an era, but at the same time, it brought forth a brand new chapter. Moving Violation was the last album The Jackson 5 released with Motown, as they would leave the label for Epic Records to obtain that creative and artistic freedom they had been seeking for a couple of years up to that point. Thus they would transition to being The Jacksons, and with Jermaine choosing to remain at Motown Records, Randy would officially join the group.

As far as the actual album goes, Moving Violation produced "Forever Came Today" which was the club banger from the album, and there was also the second single "All I Do Is Think of You" which was the major R&B groove. The final single from the record, "Body Language (Do the Love Dance)," was released in January 1976.

• Our favorite track: "Show You the Way to Go"

The Jacksons and Gamble & Huff—the dream team that made magic. I know everybody always immediately calls out "Enjoy Yourself" when discussing The Jacksons album, but I will forever stand by "Show You the Way to Go" being the best on this album. The instrumentation, Michael's smooth vocals leading the way, the background harmonies, the breakdown in the middle when Mike's going off. The song is literally perfect, and this album is a classic joint from top to bottom. Also got to call out "Dreamer" and "Good Times." "Dreamer" is a "dreamy track" that will indeed have you "dreaming your life away," and brought forth some good performances as well.

• Our favorite track: "Find Me a Girl"

With one album at Epic Records underneath their belt, The Jacksons released their follow-up, Goin' Places, on October 18th, 1977, which sold over half a million copies worldwide. The album was led with the title track "Goin' Places," and followed up by "Find Me a Girl" in December 1977, "Even Though You're Gone" in January 1978, and "Music's Takin' Over" in April 1978. This era was also a turning point for the group because the song "Different Kind of Lady" was a major hit in the discos, and it was one written and produced entirely by The Jacksons. And if a song you wrote and produced all by yourself became a hit, then that means you're capable of doing a whole album right? Correct.

• Our favorite track: "That's What You Get (For Being Polite)"

The result of that was 1978's "Destiny," which was The Jacksons creatively free—their first time being given complete creative control and artistic freedom. "Blame It on the Boogie" kicked things off as the first single in September 1978, "Destiny" followed up as the second single in January 1979, and "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" is what drove it home. Of course we all know "Shake Your Body" was a huge hit on the charts, but it's impact has gone far beyond that initial chart run. It's the "closer," everybody knows the dances, it's been heavily referenced. Oh, and let it be known that Michael Jackson was saying the phrase "Takin' Over" long before any rapper.

I think "That's What You Get (For Being Polite)" deserves more props as well because even though it wasn't released as a single, all you have to start singing "Jack still cries day and night," and the people automatically get going. Destiny is a beautiful album, one that celebrates it's 45th anniversary later this year.

• Our favorite track: This Place Hotel/Can You Feel It

If I had to pick one album to definitely call The Jackson5/Jacksons best...I'm going with Triumph as I truly believe it is their best body of work. A lot happened in between the release of Destiny and Triumph, most notably Michael releasing his first adult solo album Off the Wall. Those two years brought forth a ton of growth, and you saw it with songs like "This Place Hotel" which had a perfect haunting production, and "Can You Feel It" which has become an anthem while also serving as a reminder of the many issues in the world.

"Lovely One" was the dance jam, but I think "Walk Right Now" was groovy too, and "Time Waits for No One" was a ballad do you hear me. A ballad. Like I said, Triumph is The Jacksons best album to me. They put all of their respective foots in it.

• Our favorite track: "State of Shock" featuring Mick Jagger

And if a lot happened in between Destiny and Triumph, then a ton happened in the four years between Triumph and Victory. You know like...Michael released Thriller, and it kind of became the biggest-selling album of all time which is a record that it still holds today. Also, Jermaine rejoined the group in 1983 for their reunion on Motown 25 (the same show Michael debuted the Moonwalk). Victory is the culmination of all The Jacksons musical and personal growth, and was followed with their legendary Victory Tour, which still trends and goes viral to this day. If only we could have been alive to go. If you were (and got to) consider yourselves lucky.

• Our favorite track: "2300 Jackson Street"

2300 Jackson Street is the final album in The Jacksons discography, and while that makes us sad, what makes us happy is that they managed to end on a high note. Our favorite track on the album, "2300 Jackson Street," is the only song on the album that featured Michael and Marlon, so the track was a full family affair and so fun to watch.

A truly legendary family.