While celebrities make a lot of money while living, some of them make even more after their deaths.
Forbes compiled a list of dead celebrities who, this year, struck million-dollar deals or continued to earn money due to their enormous contribution to the cultural landscape. From beloved child authors to eternal pop superstars, here are 7 of the highest-paid dead celebrities this year:
Roald Dahl
The children’s books author Roadl Dahl wrote 43 books in his life, with a vast amount of them later being turned into blockbuster feature films. This year, he made more money than ever thanks to Netflix, who struck a deal with Dahl’s estate and purchased the rights to the biggest names in Dahl’s body of work. Rights include “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “James and The Giant Peach,” “Matilda,” and more. In 2021, Dahl has earnings of $513 million
Prince
This year, Prince had earnings of $120 million. This increase was due to a deal that his brothers struck, where they sold about 43% of the Prince estate to Primary Wave, a music publishing and management company.
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson, who usually occupies the first spot in these types of ranking, came in in third place. He earned $75 million.
Dr. Seuss
The beloved children’s book author came in at $35 million thanks to a licensing deal with Netflix. Dr. Seuss has written plenty of classic books, from “The Cat in The Hat,” to “Green Eggs and Ham.”
Elvis Presley
The iconic singer came in with $30 million, thanks in large part to deals with Netflix for the making of an animated series.
Bob Marley
Bob Marley came in with $16 million thanks to the fact that he remains one of the most streamed artists of all time, beloved by people of all ages and places.
John Lennon
John Lennon came in at $12 million. Over the years, he’s been consistently in the Forbes ranking of dead celebrity earnings.
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