Thriller’s 25th Anniversary (and a certain prank call) sort of hinted who Michael Jackson was collaborating with before his death, as the release featured new remixes of classics from the album Akon and Will.I.Am. In a recent Billboard report, it was revealed by former Sony Music CEO Tommy Matolla that there is a wealth of unreleased material in the vaults from MJ, perhaps even more than Elvis (who still releases new compilation albums just about every year).

A quick peek at the Billboard and Itunes charts shows dramatic sales numbers for virtually all of MJ’s albums, many of them selling over 100,000 copies within the last week, with retailers struggling to keep them in stock. That being said, it is a certainty that all of this vaulted music will be remixed, finished, and released probably over the next twenty to thirty years (i.e. 2Pac).

Akon stated that he and Jackson had been in the studio together, but had only completed one song, “Hold My Hand”, which leaked online last year. Meanwhile, Black Eyed Peas frontman, will.i.am, stated that he had a handful of songs recorded with Jackson, but was unsure what he was going to do with them, releasing them or just keeping them in the vault. Of the recordings, will told the BBC that they “demanded all the people to the dancefloor”. – DJ Pizzo