When the King of Pop was alive, he never made it to Forbes' annual "Celebrity 100" ranking of the the richest folks that span the globe. Now in death, Jackson earned more than any star on the list except for media czar Oprah Winfrey. He now has the No. 1 spot on the 10th annual ranking of the "Top-Earning Dead Celebrities." Last year, he grossed a whopping $275 million.
"The death of Michael Jackson really put a focus on - crassly, quite frankly - what someone's worth when they're deceased," David Reeder, vice president of Corbis' GreenLight told Forbes magazine. Reeder manages the personality rights for theoretical physicist Albert Einstein and actor Steve McQueen, among other dead celebrities.
The criteria for being placed on the famed list of deceased money-earning celebs is at least $5 million earned from October 1, 2009, to October 1, 2010. Earnings would typically come from book sales, music royalties or licensing agreements. The editors at Forbes interviewed the star's agents, lawyers and other sources in order to estimate the worth of the celebrated figure.
The year before, Jackson's estate earned $90 million, and he was third on the Forbes list. An estimated $200 million was added to the icon's earnings for the film "This Is It." His estate also boasts posthumous earnings from renewed fan interest in "all things Michael Jackson."
Jackson, 50, who died suddenly on June 25, 2009, of cardiac arrest brought on by a lethal dose of the powerful anesthetic propofol, even out-earned the likes of rock & roll great Elvis Presley (No. 2, $60 million) and Beatles legend John Lennon (No. 5, $17 million).