Michael Jackson is top dead celebrity earner

The late Michael Jackson has been declared the high earning dead celebrity in the latest annual Forbes magazine list. Jackson, well known as the King of Pop, has earned an estimate 173m in the last year according to Forbes magazine. This is more than any other celebrity, dead or alive, expect for Oprah Winfrey. Lacey Rose one of the producers of the list has said, Jacksons sport atop out top earning dead celebrities list should as no surprise given the renewed interest. It will come as little shock to many people that Elvis Presley came second on the list making 38m in the last year. Elvis Presley was followed by JRR Tolkien on the Forbes magazine list. The estate of the Lord of the Rings author generated 32m, Forbes also states, Peanuts illustrator Charles Schulz raked in 21m, while former Beatle John Lennon was fifth on the list earning 11m. The massive amount of money which Jackson has earned is more than the next 12 deceased celebrities combined. 50m of the money earned by Jackson has accumulated from album sales and also radio airplay. A substantial amount of the money also came from sales of a video game, memorabilia and a re-released autobiography. The Jackson estate were also paid tens of millions for the This Is It film which was produced. This film was of the rehearsal for his ill-fated comeback concerts at the O2 arena in London.