![](\"https:\/\/cms.eu-central-1.linodeobjects.com\/image\/2025\/11\/31bb75fe-28f4-4905-8a3a-cdbb9e65edd3.png\")
<\/p>\nForbes has released the 2025 edition of its highest paid
Topping the list is the estate of the late pop icon Michael Jackson, which
According to Forbes, his lifetime post-death earnings now
“The King of Pop\u2019s estate has earned an astonishing $3.5 billion since his death in 2009, and according to\u00a0<\/span>estimates, topping this year\u2019s list once again with $105 million in earnings over the past 12 months,” Forbes said.<\/p>\n In second place comes the children\u2019s author Theodor Geisel,
The third spot is shared by two former members of Pink
In fourth place is the estate of The Notorious B.I.G., popularly known as Christopher Wallace, at about $80 million for the year.<\/p>\n “As with many celebrities who die young, merchandise for the East Coast rap legend known as The Notorious B.I.G. continues to sell well since his murder at 24, juicing the valuation of the estate in a sale of 50 per cent of Biggie\u2019s catalogue, publishing and NIL rights to Primary Wave Music in March,” Forbes said.<\/p>\n Furthermore, the list continues with iconic names, with\u00a0jazz legend\u00a0Miles Davis earning around $21 million.<\/span><\/p>\n In sixth place is\u00a0<\/span>Elvis Presley at approximately $17 million, followed by\u00a0<\/span>Jimmy Buffett, earning about $14 million.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2001, Elvis Presley topped Forbes\u2019 first list tracking
Earning close to Buffett at\u00a0<\/span>around $13 million is Jamaican\u00a0<\/span>singer, songwriter and guitarist Bob Marley.<\/span><\/p>\n Following Bob Marley on the Forbes list is\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>John Lennon, said to earn roughly $12 million.<\/span><\/p>\n In total, Forbes reports the top 13 estates combined earned
What makes the list particularly revealing is the dominance
For example, the Michael Jackson estate sold a 50 per cent stake in his own publishing and master recording catalogue to Sony Music in
In Dr Seuss\u2019s case, the earnings highlight that literature
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-star.co.ke \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Forbes has released the 2025 edition of its highest paid
dead celebrities list on the 25th anniversary of its tracking of deceased celebrity estates.\u00a0 Topping the list is the estate of the late pop icon Michael Jackson, which
pulled in an estimated $105 million (Sh 13.5 billion) over the past 12 months. According to Forbes, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2132104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[405652,354748,364292,405653,304696,345177,350899,47288,405654],"class_list":["post-2132103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-billion","tag-bob-marley","tag-forbes","tag-jamaican","tag-michael-jackson","tag-pink-floyd","tag-songwriter","tag-sony-music","tag-the-star"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-highest-paid-dead-celebrities-of-2025.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2132103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2132103"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2132103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2132105,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2132103\/revisions\/2132105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2132104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2132103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2132103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2132103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ndead celebrities list on the 25th anniversary of its tracking of deceased celebrity estates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\npulled in an estimated $105 million (Sh 13.5 billion) over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n
\nstand at roughly $3.5 billion.<\/p>\n
\nbetter known as Dr Seuss, whose estate generated approximately $85 million in
\n2025.<\/p>\n
\nFloyd, Richard Wright and Syd Barrett, each earning roughly $81 million.<\/p>\n
\nthe highest earning celebrity estates and has appeared on every
\nedition of the rankings in the 25 years since.<\/p>\n
\nabout $541 million in 2025, and 10 of the 13 are musicians.<\/p>\n
\nof music catalogues, publishing rights and branding deals among the top
\nearners.<\/p>\n
\n2024 for about $600 million, a transaction that greatly bolstered annual
\nearnings.<\/p>\n
\nand intellectual property can be just as resilient as music in generating
\nrevenue long after authors\u2019 deaths.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n