Sometimes, the best thing you can do for your career is die. Just ask Elvis Presley. Once he kicked in August 1977, he went from Las Vegas has-been to one of the highest-earning celebrities on the planet.
Forbes tracks this ghoulish sort of thing, releasing a list of highest-earning dead celebrities around Halloween. Here’s what we learned in 2025. All figures in US dollars for the past 12 months.
1. Michael Jackson: $105 million.
Money is flooding in from music sales, streaming, a publishing sale, the musical based on his life, and a Cirque du Soleil show. He’s finished on top of this Forbes list 13 of the last 16 years. The estimates are that the Jackson estate earned $3.5 billion during that period.
2. Dr. Seuss: $85 million
That’s a lot of books. There are also licensing deals and a Netflix partnership.
3/4. Richard Wright/Syd Barrett: $81 million each
Syd left Pink Floyd in 1968 and died in 2006. Keyboardist Richard Wright died in 2008.
5. Notorious B.I.G.: $80 million
Credit continuing merch sales and a publishing sale in March.
6. Miles Davis: $21 million
The jazz great died of a stroke in 1991. In 2025, there was a publishing sale of 90% of his catalogue.
7. Elvis Presley: $17 million
The Presley family owns just 15% of Elvis Presley Enterprises. That company operates Graceland, an adjacent shopping mall, all merch rights, and whatever is left of his publishing.
8. Jimmy Buffet: $14 million
All that time in the sun resulted in fatal skin cancer, but Jimmy lives on through two trusts. Income is derived from the Margarita chain of restaurants, clothing, and a cruise line, as well as legacy income from his music.
9. Bob Marley: $13 million
Given the continued ubiquity of Marley’s music along with all the merch and licensing, you’d think this number would be higher. However, recent deals should juice this number in 2026.
10. John Lennon: $12 million
Lennon has been a reliable earner since he was shot in December 1980. With more Beatles projects imminent and in development, this number should be higher in 2026.
11. Prince: $11 million
He should be earning more, but there’s so much confusion over his estate that it’ll take a while to maximize returns.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com ’
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