I loved Michael Jackson’s music and his stellar live performances. Wacko or not, the man was known to mess up his own life and never take responsibility for his problems couldn’t manage his money too well when alive. He lived like a king and died in debts, and it’s no surprise that the King never even made it to Forbes’ annual Celebrity 100 list when alive. However, in his afterlife, he has earned more than all of them in the celeb list, second only to Oprah Winfrey this year. MJ took the top honors on the 10th annual ranking of the Top-Earning Dead Celebrities with gross earnings of $275 million. The income comes from his Sony/ATV catalog, the hit documentary ‘This Is It,’ and the interest that was brought back to his music, videos, his belongings and the person himself after he died.
The rest of the list follows.
2. Elvis Presley (Singer / Actor) $60 million
3. J.R.R. Tolkien (Author) $50 million
4. Charles Schulz (Cartoonist) $33 million
5. John Lennon (Musician) $17 million
6. Stieg Larsson (Writer) $15 million
7. Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) (Author) $11 million
8. Albert Einstein (Scientist) $10 million
9. George Steinbrenner (Sports Franchise Owner) $8 million
10. Richard Rodgers (Songwriter) $7 million
11. Jimi Hendrix (Musician) / Steve McQueen (Actor)$6 million
12. Aaron Spelling (TV magnate) $5 million
[Forbes]
