"It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period," his publicist said in a statement.
"The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage," the publicist said.
Thames Valley Police said the ambulance service had attended a property in Goring in Oxfordshire, where the singer lived, at 1342 GMT on Sunday Dec 25,2016, the BBC reported.
They said they were treating the death as unexplained but there were no suspicious circumstances.
Michael was due to release a documentary in 2017 after a period of living as a virtual recluse in which he hit the headlines for a series of bizarre incidents linked to drugs.
Earlier this month it was also announced that producer and songwriter Naughty Boy was working with Michael on a new album to come out next year.
Michael and his Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley on stage in 1986 - the pair would go on to achieve fame with a number of hits including Last Christmas and Club Tropicana
George Michael was born in East Finchley, London, on June 25, 1963.
He was the son of Greek Cypriot restaurateur Kyriacos Panayiotou, who moved to England in the 1950s.
Michael first attended Kingsbury High School in north London. His mother, Lesley Angold, was an English dancer.
When he was a teenager, his family moved to Hertfordshire, an affluent village called Radlett just north east of Watford.
It was there where he met Wham! partner and guitarist Andrew Ridgeley after he joined Bushey Meads School in Bushey.
As their relationship grew, it was clear that the pair wanted to be famous musicians and Michael starting busking on the London Underground.
He would sing songs, including Queen's '39' and then he started working as a DJ.
The singer went on to perform at small venues in Watford, Stanmore and Bushey.
He then formed the ska band, The Executive with Ridgeley and Ridgeley's brother Paul, Andrew Leaver and David Mortimer.
Michael then started Wham! with Ridgeley in 1981 and their debut album, Fantastic, reached number one in the UK two years later.
Their second album, Make It Big – which included 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-GO' - reached number one in the US.
He sang on the original Band Air recording of 'Do They Know It's Christmas' – which later became the UK Christmas number one.
In 1986, Wham! separated.
Just one year later he launched his own solo career and kicked it off with a duet with star Aretha Franklin.
He went on to release 7 solo albums – from Faith in 1987 to Symphonica in 2014
Michael came out as gay in 1998 after being arrested for committing a lewd act in the public toilet of a Los Angeles park, the first of several incidents that were to overshadow his musical career in his later years.
He notched up police cautions for cannabis and crack cocaine possession and in 2010 was sentenced to eight weeks in jail after crashing his car into a London shop while under the influence of cannabis and prescription medication.
In 2011, he spent several weeks in hospital in Vienna after contracting pneumonia, later saying that he had been close to death.
There were fresh concerns in 2013 when he had to be airlifted to hospital after falling out of his chauffeur-driven Range Rover as it travelled at high speed on a motorway.
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