HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I is a double album containing the first non-Motown greatest hits album and ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995. It was Jackson's fifth album released through Epic Records, and the first on his label MJJ Productions. It comprises two discs: HIStory Begins, a greatest hits compilation, and HIStory Continues, comprising new material written and produced by Jackson and collaborators. The album includes appearances by Janet Jackson, Shaquille O'Neal, Slash, and the Notorious B.I.G. The genres span R&B, pop, and hip hop with elements of hard rock and funk rock. The themes include environmental awareness, isolation, greed, suicide, injustice, and Jackson's conflicts with the media.

A double album is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording is longer than the capacity of the medium. Recording artists often think of double albums as being a single piece artistically; however, there are exceptions, such as John Lennon's Some Time in New York City and OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below . Since the advent of the compact disc, albums are sometimes released with a bonus disc featuring additional material as a supplement to the main album, with live tracks, studio out-takes, cut songs, or older unreleased material. One innovation was the inclusion of a DVD of related material with a compact disc, such as video related to the album or DVD-Audio versions of the same recordings. Some such discs were also released on a two-sided format called DualDisc.