Forbe's Top Earning Dead Celebs - Updated to 2024

[John]

Forbes Best-Selling Dead Celebs for 2021:

Forbes - 2021.JPG

People reading more during the pandemic has no doubt helped Roald Dahl this year.

The Prince estate made a large one-off sale which has improved his position this year.

The pandemic has reduced admissions to Graceland which normally contributes most to Elvis' total.

Sad to see him down at No.7 this year.

Great hopes for our boy to do better in the 2022 figures !

Prince's high position was a one-off.

Graceland should show better returns with the Covid restrictions having been lessened.

The Baz Luhrmann 'Elvis' film has generated a lot of publicity & interest this year.

The Forbes figures normally come out around October each year.

Yeah, I reckon old El will jump a couple of places.

[Colin B]

Forbe's Top Earning Dead Celebs - 2022

1 - J.R.R Tolkien - $500m [New entry]
2 - Kobe Bryant - $400m [New entry]
3 - David Bowie - $250m [New entry]
4 - Elvis Presley - $110m [up 3]
5 - James Brown - $100m [New entry]
6 - Michael Jackson - $75m [Down 3]
7 - Leonard Cohen - $55m [New Entry]
8 - Dr Seuss - $32m [Down 3]
9 - Jeff Porcaro - $25m [New Entry]
10 - Charles Schultz - $24m [Down 6]
11 - Juan Gabriel - $23m [New entry]
12 - John Lennon - $16m [New Entry]
13 - George Harrison - $12m [New Entry]

Celebs from 2021 who have dropped off the chart this year:

Roald Dahl - [was No.1]
Prince [No.2]
Bing Crosby [No.6]
Arnold Palmer [No.8]
Gerry Goffin [No.9]
Luther Vandross [No.10]

Forbes - 2022.JPG

Forbes - 2022 [2].JPG

Forbes - 2022 [3].JPG

Our boy goes up 3 places with $5m of his $110m total earnings coming from Baz Lurhmann's 'Elvis' film !

[Colin B]

From the UK Newspaper 'Express' site:

https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment ... elebrities.

They headline how Elvis has beaten Michael Jackson & the Beatles, but poor David Bowie, who beat all of them, is only mentioned further down in the text.

Odd.

[Colin B]

Forbes Top Earning Dead Celebrities - 2023:

1 - Michael Jackson - $115m
2 - Elvis Presley - $100m
3 - Ray Manzarek - $45M
4 - Dr Suess - $40m
5 - Charles M Schulz - $30m
6 - Prince - £30m
7 - Whitney Houston - $30m
8 - John Lennon - $22m
9 - Bob Marley - $16m
10 - Bing Crosby - $14m
11 - George Harrison - $14m
Equal 12 - Arnold Palmer - $10m
Equal 12 - Marilyn Monroe - $10m

Elvis up to No.2 !

Pretty good showing for our boy considering the Estate got little from the Baz film...

Michael Jackson.JPG

Elvis - 1955.JPG

From the Forbes site:

Forbes Dead Celebs - 2023 - Text.JPG

[Yin Yang]

Poor Elvis. Making so much money and not getting a penny of it.

[Colin B]

Poor Elvis. Making so much money and not getting a penny of it.

It's an odd situation.

Does Forbes take into account the royalties for Elvis recordings pre 1973 which go to the record company & not the estate ?

STOP PRESS !

I asked the AI site 'Bard' that question & they replied:

Forbes Dead Celebrities List - Bard.JPG

Some fascinating data there !

[Colin B]

To summarise:

The figures published annually by Forbes include the sales of all 'Elvis' product, irrespective of who owns the rights to them.

[Colin B]

Forbes Top Earning Dead Celebrities - 2024:

1 - Michael Jackson - $600M

2 - Freddie Mercury - $250M

3 - Dr. Seuss - $75M

4 - Elvis Presley - $50M

5 - Ric Ocasek - $45M

6 - Prince - $35M

7 - Bob Marley - $34M

8 - Charles M Schulz - $30M

9 - Matthew Perry - $18M

10 - John Lennon - $17M

11 - James Brown - $15M

12 - Arnold Palmer - $14M

13 - Whitney Houston - $13M

Explanatory notes:

During 2024:

Sony bought Michael Jackson's publishing & recorded masters for $600M.

Sony bought the Queen's catalogue for $1 billion which was split between Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor & John Deacon.

And:

Matthew Perry, alongside 'Friends' co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow & David Schwimmer,
are estimated to pull in some $18 million annually in royalties from the megahit sitcom