While things might be topsy-turvy in the financial markets above ground, it’s still a bull market in the boneyard. The 13 famous names that make up our Top-Earning Dead Celebrities earned a combined $194 million over the last 12 months.
Topping the list for the second year running, is the former King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elvis Presley. Without so much as lifting a finger, the Memphis Flash earned a whopping $52 million in the last year. That’s more than some of the music industry’s biggest living acts command–Justin Timberlake pulled in $44 million last year; Madonna $40 million.
The 30th anniversary of Elvis’ death helped boost attendance and merchandise sales at Graceland, and new ventures such as an Elvis Sirius Satellite Radio show add to a long list of publishing and licensing deals.
Adding up paychecks of dead celebrities can be a wicked task–after all, they don’t exactly sit for interviews. To get to the bottom line, we talked to experts and sources inside their estates and dug up the gross earnings (before taxes, management fees and other costs) from the period of October 2007 to October 2008.
No. 2: Charles M. Schulz
No. 3: Heath Ledger
No. 4: Albert Einstein
No. 5: Aaron Spelling
No. 6: Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel)
No. 7: John Lennon
No. 8: Andy Warhol
No. 9: Marilyn Monroe
No. 10: Steve McQueen
No. 11: Paul Newman
No. 12: James Dean
No. 13: Marvin GayePhoto by calamity1.
cassy on November 11th, 2008 at 1:52 am
Wow! I dont know what to say about this people who are still earning millions of dollars even if they were already dead!
CoolProducts on November 11th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Interesting list.. Do their earnings go to family?
James Spinosa on November 11th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Hopefully when I’m gone my websites will be earning about that much yearly so it can go to a good charity.
Shane Sheibani on November 12th, 2008 at 3:40 am
Perhaps those of us who are still alive recording should consider leaving a percentage of our estates to our favorite charities on a yearly income basis? sounds like if enough people did this that it could make a BIG difference in the world hunger problem! (you never know, I know of a band,”The Human Expression” that didn’t catch on till 42 years after they recorded their songs).
Jaclyn on November 13th, 2008 at 6:41 am
this is no suprise at all. it’s just like the classic statement of an artist never makes it big until their dead. it’s along the same lines as that. there are die hard fans of especially elvis everywhere, he made such an impression on our parents and parents parents that it was passed down to the next generation. like myself for example…i am 26 year’s old and i love elvis…he is one of my favorites along with the righteous brothers and a few other’s. and to this day i buy their cd’s that are sometimes hard to find since they are dead.