Remembering Quincy Jones With A Look Back At His 5 Biggest Songs On Genius

Quincy Jones, the groundbreaking musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and producer best known for making Michael Jackson a global superstar, died last night at the age of 91. A colossal figure in music often referred to simply as Q, Jones leaves behind decades of essential music that extends far beyond the MJ blockbusters Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad.

Jones worked with heavyweights from Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald to The Weeknd and helped to corral all the biggest stars of the ’80s into one room for “We Are the World,” the massive 1985 charity single that raised millions for African famine relief. And those are just some of the bullet points on his ridiculously storied resume.

In celebration of this unrivaled legend, here’s a look back at Q’s five biggest songs on Genius, as measured by pageviews.

5. “You Don’t Own Me,” SAYGRACE, ft. G-Eazy (2015, producer)

Jones produced Lesley Gore’s 1963 feminist pop classic “You Don’t Own Me,” and he’d been thinking for years about remaking it with a younger artist. The chance game in 2015, when me met Australian singer SAYGRACE, then known as Grace, and co-produced this version, featuring rapper G-Eazy. As SAYGRACE told Idolator, Jones thought the song’s message—that women don’t exist simply to be controlled by men—“needed to be portrayed again for this generation.”

4. “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” Michael Jackson (1982, producer)

The opening track on MJ’s world-beating 1982 album Thriller only reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, but its percolating post-disco rhythm still sounds fresh more than 40 years later. Maybe that’s why it has more Genius views than the LP’s title track, a perennial Halloween favorite. Or maybe it’s because people want to know the meaning of “Ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa,” a phrase that MJ seemingly lifted from African sax great Manu Dibango. (Dibango sued, and the case was settled out of court.) As for the meaning, Dibango was apparently riffing on makossa, a Duala word for “I dance.”

3. “Smooth Criminal,” Michael Jackson (1987, producer)

As with “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” this wasn’t one of MJ’s chart-toppers. It peaked at No. 7 on the Hot 100 and became Jackson’s sixth Top 10 single off 1987’s Bad. But its ominous bass line, memorable chorus (“Annie, are you OK?”), and gangster-themed music video have made this one an all-time classic that transcends its original chart position.

2. “Billie Jean,” Michael Jackson (1982, producer)

An intense psychodrama with an impeccable groove, “Billie Jean” remains Jackson’s signature song. A good producer knows when to roll with someone else’s brilliant idea, and in this case, Quincy let Michael preface the vocals with nearly 30 seconds of just bass, drum, and keyboard. “I said we had to get to the melody sooner, but Michael said that was what made him want to dance,” Jones once said during a radio interview. “When Michael Jackson says something makes him want to dance, you don’t argue, so he won.”

1. “Fly Me to the Moon,” Frank Sinatra & Count Basie (1954, arranger)

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Jones recalled how this swanky wedding classic was originally written in ¾ time. But then Frank Sinatra asked if they could do it in 4/4, a time signature much more conducive to swinging. “So I had to sit in my hotel room in San Remo and overnight I had to write that arrangement,” Jones said. “No piano, nothing, just write it. Frank died when he heard it, man. I was so happy because, really, that was my first thing for him. I was 29, you know? Those guys were in their 50s and 60s.”