Bad is the Michael Jackson album from 1987 represented in the 2026 film Michael.
The film’s soundtrack includes songs from Jackson’s albums Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad. Bad was Jackson’s seventh studio album and followed Thriller, one of the best-selling albums in music history. Its release marked an important period in Jackson’s solo career and is linked to the tour that closes the film’s main chronology.
Bad is sometimes confused with Jackson’s later albums Dangerous, HIStory, and Invincible. Those albums belong to later stages of his career and are not the 1987 album represented in Michael’s listed soundtrack material.
The film’s story covers Jackson’s rise from the Jackson 5 through the late 1980s. That timeframe explains why Bad is included, while later albums fall outside the main period depicted by the biopic.