Yesterday as Kirty South and I drove back from Olympia WA, HANDS DOWN THE WORST PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES (with a few notable exceptions), I got to select the playlist on his iPod. Between The Shaggs and Deerhoof songs, there was plenty of ’80s pop, with no fewer than three Michael Jackson songs strewn in there. Man, that dude could write and perform a song. Despite child-touching allegations and a two-decade long decline in productivity and popularity, you still gotta give it up for Michael as an artist.

This led me to wonder: so when’s Wacko Jacko gonna release a new album? Apparently, it’s in the works. According to Billboard, songwriter Claude Kelly penned a song for the new Akon album. When Akon played Kelly the track, it featured none other than Michael Jackson. The track “Hold My Hand” will reportedly be released on both Akon’s album, and Jackson’s upcoming release (no release date yet). I for one can’t wait. No, seriously.

Claude Kelly, who can write a hit song, but apparently has no eye for design, is understandably way stoked.

“I wrote the song and gave it to Akon with the intention of it going to maybe Whitney Houston, but Akon said he wanted to cut it himself. I thought, ‘It doesn’t get any bigger than this’,” the 27-year-old New York native tells Billboard.com. “A few months after, Akon plays the song for me and all of a sudden I hear Michael Jackson’s voice. I was literally shaking by the time the song was over.”

The audacity of these pricks! Topping both the Billboard Top 200 and the UK Album charts with their newest album Viva La Vida. Coldplay was mildly awesome when Parachutes came out, but ever since they compromised their souls, married actresses and named their kids after fruit, they’ve huffed DONG.

Actually, I haven’t heard the album. But I heard the single and it was pretty fucking good. I just don’t like band monopoly. Judge me.

Coldplay’s latest album, Viva La Vida, debuts at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 with over 720,000 copies sold in its first week of release in the U.S.  Viva La Vida has topped the U.K. album chart for the second week in a row, where it is the fastest-selling album of the year, and No. 1 rankings continue to come in from around the globe including Japan, Australia, Canada, France and Germany.

Already the biggest album pre-order in iTunes history, Viva La Vida also set the record for highest first-week album sales ever on the iTunes® Store worldwide. Today the album’s title song surpasses “Clocks” as the band’s biggest-selling single to date on the iTunes Store. “Viva La Vida” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 last week, marking Coldplay’s first Hot 100 No. 1 single ever, and it debuted this week at No. 1 on the U.K. Singles chart.