Michael Jackson was working on two albums before his death

Reportedly, Akon was working with Michael on some of this material.

(via Billboard)
At the time of Michael Jackson's death, it was well-known that he was preparing for a 50-show concert series at London's O2 Arena.

What was less well-known—and what many are now speculating about—was what kind of recordings Jackson had done for the last few years. Billboard has learned that the singer was working on two albums at the time of his death: one in the pop vein that made him famous and another that would consist of an instrumental classical composition. And while some believe the star wanted to recapture his '80s glory days—or escape financial trouble—those who worked with him recently say he was motivated by his fans and his children.

Read more of the article here

In addition, this is what former Chairman and CEO of Sony Music Tommy Mottola said about some of the unreleased Michael Jackson material in the vault.

"There are dozens and dozens of songs that did not end up on his albums," said Tommy Mottola, who from 1998 to 2003 was chairman and CEO of Sony Music, which owns the distribution rights to Jackson's music. "People will be hearing a lot of that unreleased material for the first time ever. There's just some genius and brilliance in there."

The releases, Mottola said, "could go on for years and years — even more than Elvis."

(Mottola article portion courtesy of hits daily double)