Songfacts®:

• In this song, Michael Jackson has found the perfect girl, and she's rocked his world. It's a dance-ready track similar in concept to his 1987 hit "The Way You Make Me Feel," which also finds his world rocked by a beautiful woman.
• "You Rock My World" was the lead single from Michael Jackson's 2001 album Invincible. Jackson still had immense star power but was getting boxed out of the charts by younger artists. The song didn't get much airplay and stalled at #10 in the US. The chart peak came on the last chart issued before the September 11 attacks, which derailed it along with just about everything else. The next single, "Butterflies," was issued a few months later and reached #14. Invincible ended up being Jackson's last studio album (he died in 2009). It went to #1 in most territories but was his weakest seller since before his star turn with Off The Wall in 1979.
• Jackson teamed up with Fred and Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels and Nora Payne to write the song. Jackson and Rodney Jerkins manned the production desk and between them played all the instruments.
  
  The team of Jerkins/Jerkins/Daniels had the hot hand. They also wrote and produced "Say My Name" for Destiny's Child and "He Wasn't Man Enough" by Toni Braxton.
• The comic actor Chris Tucker features on this song, joining Jackson in a spoken-word intro where they spot a lovely lady and argue over whether or not Jackson can land her. Tucker's blockbuster Rush Hour 2 had recently hit theaters. In the radio edit of the song, this intro is removed.
• In the UK this song was kept off the top spot by Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head." It did reach the top spot in France, Hong Kong, Portugal, Spain.
• Michael Jackson, the pioneer of long-form music videos, made another for "You Rock My World." Over 13-minutes long, it's based on a story written by Jackson and the video's director, Paul Hunter. Set in the "Smooth Criminal" era, it finds Jackson and Tucker in a battle with some tough guys that Jackson has to dance his way out of.
  
  Michael Madson stars as the angry boyfriend, and Marlon Brando plays the boss. It went on to win the 2001 NAACP Image Award for Best Music Video.
• Jackson didn't tour for the Invincible album but he staged star-packed concerts on September 7 and 10 at Madison Square Garden in New York City that he ended with performances of "You Rock My World." These shows were combined into a two-hour CBS-TV special that didn't air until November because of the September 11 attacks. These were Jackson's only performances of the song.