"Ben" is a song written by Don Black and Walter Scharf and recorded by Michael Jackson for the Motown label in 1972. The theme song of 1972 the horror film Ben, it is a melancholy ballad to the film's title character, a killer rat – a choice critics have noted as singularly odd. It was initially released as a single, and later appeared as the title track to Ben, Jackson's second solo album. The song was Jackson's first number-one hit as a solo artist on the American pop charts, and also performed well overseas, reaching number one in Australia and number seven in the United Kingdom. Cover versions were later recorded by Marti Webb and Akon, and the original featured in the 2003 film Willard, a remake of the film to which Benwas a sequel.

Originally written for Donny Osmond, "Ben" was offered to Jackson as Osmond was on tour at the time and unavailable for recording. The single, theme of a 1972 film of the same name (the sequel to the 1971 killer rat movie Willard), spent one week at the top of the U.S. pop chart. It also reached number-one on the Australian pop chart, spending eight weeks at the top spot. The song also later reached a peak of number seven on the British pop chart..

The song became the first of 13 number-one pop hits for Jackson in the United States and his first number-one as a solo artist; it was later included on Jackson's album of the same name.

"Ben" won a Golden Globe for Best Song. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1973; Jackson performed the song in front of a live audience at the ceremony.

Although Jackson had already become the youngest artist to ever record a number-one ("I Want You Back" with The Jackson 5, in 1970), "Ben" made him the third-youngest solo artist, at fourteen, to score a number-one hit single. Only Stevie Wonder, who was thirteen when "Fingertips, Pt. 2" went to number one, and Donny Osmond, who was months shy of his fourteenth birthday when "Go Away Little Girl" hit number one in 1971 were younger.

The song is one of Jacksons most re-released, having appeared on The Jackson 5 Anthology, The Best of Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson Anthology, Jackson 5: The Ultimate Collection, The Essential Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection, Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection, Number Ones and King Of Pop. A live recorded version was released on the 1981 album The Jacksons Live! and remixed versions have appeared on The Remix Suite and Michael Jackson: The Stripped Mixes. After Jackson's death, singer Akon released a remix of the song with his own background vocals and Jackson's original voice.

In 1985, the song became a top ten hit again in the UK when covered by Marti Webb as a tribute to Ben Hardwick, a young liver transplant patient. This version reached #5 in the UK charts and was one of the singer's biggest hits. The co-writer of the song Don Black was at that time Webb's manager.

The song is played in the key of F Major at a tempo of 88bpm. The vocal range is B3-D5.

Michael Jackson performed the song on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour in the early 1970s, and again in 1976 on The Jacksons.