Ben, however, was more successful on the music charts than Jackson's previous studio album, peaking within the top 10 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.

Internationally, the album was less successful, peaking at number 12 in Canada, while charting within the top 200 positions in Australia and France.

[3] Two of the album's songs were "stripped" in 2009 as part of the three-disc compilation Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection.

[4] The album received generally mixed reviews from contemporary music critics, but was commercially successful worldwide.

[9] Songwriters for the 10 tracks of Ben include Mel Larson, Jerry Marcellino, Thom Bell, Linda Creed, The Corporation, Smokey Robinson, and Ronald White.

[13] In 1966, the Jackson 5 won a talent show at Gary's Theodore Roosevelt High School, where they performed "My Girl".

[13] Planer noted that one "interesting shift was the lack of participation from the Motown hitmaking machine known collectively as 'The Corporation'".

"[11] He noted that in the album's title track, Jackson had a "surprising amount of feeling" in his vocal performance.

[16] Greenblatt commented that Ben's title track was a "testament to his talent" and added that the album would "always be defined" by that one song.

[20] On January 1, 1974, the album was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry for shipping 60,000 units across the U.K.[21] After Jackson's death in June 2009, his music surged in popularity.