Album Summary

Michael Jackson's This Is It (or simply This Is It) is a posthumous two-disc soundtrack album by American singer Michael Jackson. Released by MJJ Music on October 26, 2009, This Is It features previously released music, as well as six previously unreleased recordings by Jackson. This Is It was released to coincide with the theatrical release of Michael Jackson's This Is It, a concert film documenting Jackson's rehearsals for the This Is It concert series at the O2 Arena in London. This Is It is the sixth album to be released by Sony and Motown Universal since Jackson's death on June 25, 2009.

This Is It debuted at number one in fourteen countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, Italy, and France. The soundtrack also peaked within the top 10 of the charts in several other nations. This Is It has been certified gold, platinum, or double-platinum in multiple countries and was the twelfth best-selling album of 2009 in the United States and the third best-selling album of 2009 based on worldwide sales. By March 2010, the soundtrack had sold 5 million copies globally. The title track from the album, This Is It, earned Jackson a nomination in 2011 for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.

Michael Jackson died at the age of 50 on June 25, 2009, from cardiac arrest. Prior to his death, Jackson was planning on performing 50 concerts for his sold-out This Is It comeback shows in London at The O2 Arena from July 13, 2009, to March 6, 2010. Shortly after his death, on June 25, 2009, Sony Music Entertainment announced that they were to release a two-disc compilation soundtrack for Jackson's concert documentary film, Michael Jackson's This Is It. In the announcement it was confirmed that This Is It would be released in the United States on October 26, 2009, one day before the film's theatrical release, and worldwide on October 27, 2009. A limited-edition tenth-anniversary box set of the album was released on December 11, 2019.

The press release announcing the two-disc album describes it as a "stand-alone companion" to the motion picture. This Is It was released as a two-disc compilation album. The first disc consists of 16 tracks, 14 of which were already released on Jackson's previous studio albums: Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995), and one from The Jacksons' album Destiny (1978). The album does not include any of the songs from Off The Wall (1979) or Invincible (2001), although a demo version of She's Out Of My Life is featured on the second disc. Fourteen of the already released tracks were arranged in order of how they would have appeared on the This Is It setlist and how they appeared in the concert film. On September 23, 2009, Sony Music Entertainment announced that it would release the song This Is It as a single to promote both the album and film. However, shortly after This Is It's digital debut on Michael Jackson's official website, it was confirmed that the single's planned physical release was cancelled.

The first disc contains This Is It, which was written by Michael Jackson and Paul Anka in 1983; the song had originally been planned as a duet between the two for Anka's Walk A Fine Line album. After Michael Jackson's death, his brothers found a demo of Michael Jackson's version of the song, described as a bare bone recording. They added their voices and instruments into the background of the track to give it a wider sound. Two versions of This Is It were added to the album; the original and an orchestra version that is over one minute longer. The disc's fourth track is a spoken word poem by Jackson, entitled Planet Earth, which was already published in the liner notes of Michael Jackson's 1991 album Dangerous.