Government censors imposed the ban because one song, Would You Mind has "sexually explicit lyrics," the Films and Publications Department said in a statement.

The album's distributor, EMI, has filed an appeal against the ban, said EMI Singapore senior marketing executive Angeline Teo.

During the introduction to the contentious song, track nine on the album, the singer, using popular sexual vernacular, recites a list of desires she has towards an unnamed subject.

Authorities also banned Jackson's previous album, The Velvet Rope, because of its references to homosexuality and other issues considered touchy in the tightly controlled country.

Singapore has a long history of banning Western popular songs, dating back to Peter, Paul and Mary's 1963 hit Puff, the Magic Dragon -- believed by censors to contain references to marijuana.

Pornography is strictly banned in Singapore, and the government blocks many Web sites deemed obscene. Home satellite TV antennae are outlawed.

Films and TV shows are routinely censored.

Last year, authorities banned an episode of the locally popular TV show Ally McBeal over a scene that showed main character Ally, played by Calista Flockhart, and her co-worker Ling, played by Lucy Liu, kissing each other on the lips.