Index: src/wp-admin/menu.php
===================================================================
--- src/wp-admin/menu.php	(revision 29782)
+++ src/wp-admin/menu.php	(working copy)
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
 
 $menu[4] = array( '', 'read', 'separator1', '', 'wp-menu-separator' );
 
-$menu[5] = array( __('Posts'), 'edit_posts', 'edit.php', '', 'open-if-no-js menu-top menu-icon-post', 'menu-posts', 'dashicons-admin-post' );
+$menu[5] = array( __('Posts') . pending_posts_bubble( 'post' ), 'edit_posts', 'edit.php', '', 'open-if-no-js menu-top menu-icon-post', 'menu-posts', 'dashicons-admin-post' );
 	$submenu['edit.php'][5]  = array( __('All Posts'), 'edit_posts', 'edit.php' );
 	/* translators: add new post */
 	$submenu['edit.php'][10]  = array( _x('Add New', 'post'), get_post_type_object( 'post' )->cap->create_posts, 'post-new.php' );
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@
 	while ( isset($menu[$ptype_menu_position]) || in_array($ptype_menu_position, $core_menu_positions) )
 		$ptype_menu_position++;
 
-	$menu[$ptype_menu_position] = array( esc_attr( $ptype_obj->labels->menu_name ), $ptype_obj->cap->edit_posts, "edit.php?post_type=$ptype", '', 'menu-top menu-icon-' . $ptype_class, 'menu-posts-' . $ptype_for_id, $menu_icon );
+	$menu[$ptype_menu_position] = array( esc_attr( $ptype_obj->labels->menu_name ) . pending_posts_bubble( $ptype ), $ptype_obj->cap->edit_posts, "edit.php?post_type=$ptype", '', 'menu-top menu-icon-' . $ptype_class, 'menu-posts-' . $ptype_for_id, $menu_icon );
 	$submenu["edit.php?post_type=$ptype"][5]  = array( $ptype_obj->labels->all_items, $ptype_obj->cap->edit_posts,  "edit.php?post_type=$ptype");
 	$submenu["edit.php?post_type=$ptype"][10]  = array( $ptype_obj->labels->add_new, $ptype_obj->cap->create_posts, "post-new.php?post_type=$ptype" );
 
Index: src/wp-admin/includes/post.php
===================================================================
--- src/wp-admin/includes/post.php	(revision 29782)
+++ src/wp-admin/includes/post.php	(working copy)
@@ -1659,3 +1659,34 @@
 		return wp_create_post_autosave( wp_slash( $post_data ) );
 	}
 }
+
+/**
+ * Generates a bubble with the number of "pending" posts from a given post type.
+ * 
+ * @param string $post_type The post type slug for which we're displaying the bubble
+ * 
+ * @return mixed NULL on non-existing post type, false if user can't publish posts,
+ *               empty string if there are no pending posts, HTML with count otherwise.
+ */
+function pending_posts_bubble( $post_type ) {
+	$post_type_object = get_post_type_object( $post_type );
+
+	if ( ! $post_type_object ) {
+		return null;
+	}
+
+	if ( ! current_user_can( $post_type_object->cap->publish_posts ) ) {
+		return false;
+	}
+
+	$counts = wp_count_posts( $post_type, 'readable' );
+
+	$bubble = '';
+
+	// Make sure there are pending posts
+	if ( isset( $counts->pending ) ) {
+		$bubble = " <span class='update-plugins count-{$counts->pending}'><span class='update-count'>" . number_format_i18n( $counts->pending ) . "</span></span>";
+	}
+
+	return $bubble;
+}