Celebrating the 20th anniversary of DANGEROUS album’s history

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s eighth studio album Dangerous, released November 26, 1991 on Epic Records. It became his second to debut at number 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, where it spent the next four consecutive weeks. The album has sold over 32 million copies worldwide.Dangerous won one Grammy for Best Engineered Album – Non Classical by Bruce Swedien and Teddy Riley, and is the most successful new jack swing album of all time.

Dangerous was released on November 26th 1991 with record-breaking sales. It was Michael’s fastest-selling album ever in the United States with seven million shipped in under two months. This broke the sales record for Bad, which had also shipped seven million copies in 1987, but in four months.Dangerous debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, with 326,500 copies sold in its first week. It held the position for four weeks. Michael promoted the album with a high-profile performance at the Super Bowl and an interview with Oprah Winfrey, but it did not return to the number 1 slot. However, it returned to the Top Ten after Michael received the Grammy Legend Award at the 1993 ceremony. Dangerous spent 117 weeks in the Billboard 200, thirty more than Bad. The RIAA certified Dangerous seven times platinum (seven million copies).

In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 1, holding off U2′s Achtung Baby, but in the second week it was replaced by Queen’s Greatest Hits II.Dangerous spent 23 weeks in the top 10, and a total of 96 weeks on the top 75 chart.

48% of Bad‘s worldwide sales were in the UK and US; for Dangerous, the total was 33%, reflecting Michael’s growing global reach. For the most part, the singles from Dangerous were bigger hits in Europe and Australia than in the United States. Dangerous sold very well in both Asia and South America, two emerging and growing record markets, and was supported by the Dangerous World Tour. Prior to the release of Michael’s next studio album, HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I, Dangerous had already sold over thirty-two million copies worldwide.

Dangerous was well received by most critics. Robert Christgau gave Dangerous a grade of A-, saying it was Michael’s “most consistent album since Off the Wall”.

The 2001 Special Edition has the same track listing. It was re-packaged with theDangerous – The Short Films DVD in a two disc set in 2008. Alternative editions of the albums became very rare, products almost exclusive for record collectors. The most notable editions were a 1992 edition that folded out to become a diorama, a 1993 Japan remix compilation and a 1993 Australia two-disc edition that contained bonus remixes.

An international re-release of the album (entitled Dangerous: Special Edition) took place on October 16th, 2001, just two weeks before the release of Michael’s studio album Invincible. Simultaneously, Special Editions of Off the Wall, Thrillerand Bad were also released. For the occasion, Dangerous was digitally remastered and included a slipcase and a brand new 24-page colorful booklet with revised artwork and previously-unseen photos.

Originally, Dangerous: Special Edition was to be released as a double disc release, the 1st disc featuring the original 14 track album, the 2nd filled with unreleased tracks. This project was scrapped at the last moment, however many of the tracks were eventually leaked onto the internet along with various demos of other tracks that appeared on the album. In 2004, some of these leaked tracks were officially released on The Ultimate Collection (namely theDangerous [Early Version] and Monkey Business).