Justin Timberlake thinks Michael Jackson's songs were "99.79 percent perfect".

The 'Love Sex Magic' singer - who has previously cited the late 'King of Pop' as his musical icon - has always "gravitated" towards the 'Bad' singer's musical hits despite not understanding why he was famous.

He said: "Growing up in Tennessee, I never really understood the phenomenon that was Michael Jackson or the pandemonium that followed him around.

"I just heard certain songs that I loved as a kid and I gravitated toward those songs. It just so happens that 99.79 percent of his songs are perfect. They're perfect songs. The other whatever percentage are works of art as well."

The 28-year-old chart-topper's dance skills have often been compared to Michael's trademark moves, but Justin claims he has never deliberately tried to "imitate" the late 'Thriller' singer.

He told MTV news: "You don't imitate it, but you know when you have something that he had. You could tell he was just excited about the music he was doing. That's the feeling that you get sometimes and that's when you feel like the king - but other than that, not so much!

"That type of energy, that kinetic energy into the music, I think that's what we all try to emulate. From hip-hop to pop to rock and roll, I think that there's inflection that he put into music as a vocalist that no one had ever really heard that way."