Late musician Michael Jackson topped an annual list of the top-earning dead celebrities for the fourth straight year, surpassing fellow musical icons Prince and David Bowie who died earlier this year.
According to estimates from Forbes Jackson, who died in 2009, receiveds 825 million dollars in earnings for the 12 months ending October 1, 2016. That came mostly from the Jackson estate’s 750 million dollars sale of the late singer’s remaining stake in the Sony/ATV music publishing catalog – which includes the rights to many Beatles songs – to Sony Corp.
Sales of Prince albums soared after the musician died of an accidental drug overdose in April. Forbes ranked him in fifth place overall with estimated earnings of 25 million dollars, just below Elvis Presley with 27 million dollars.
Forbes’ estimates were based on pretax income, before management and legal expenses, and were compiled through interviews with estate experts and data on record sales, touring, and movie earnings.
