Posted on 11/03/2025 10:47:05 AM PST by Whatever Works
For the 25th annual Forbes ranking, The Notorious B.I.G., Miles Davis and Jimmy Buffett join a heavenly lineup of musicians as the greatest earners in the great beyond. Plus: How Michael Jackson earned $3.5 billion in the afterlife.
In 2001, Elvis Presley topped Forbes’ first list tracking the highest-earning celebrity estates, and The King has appeared on every edition of the rankings in the 25 years since, earning over $1.2 billion during that span. Yet it’s another member of music royalty who has truly broken the paradigm for posthumous earnings—Elvis’ onetime son-in-law, Michael Jackson.
The King of Pop’s estate has earned an astonishing $3.5 billion since his death in 2009, according to Forbes estimates, topping this year’s list once again with $105 million in earnings over the past 12 months. “When it comes to estate earnings,” one high-profile estate lawyer tells Forbes, “It’s MJ, then an enormous canyon, then everybody else.”
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
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Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
They’re earning it…
…but who’s cleaning it up?
His resorts I heard.
Had to believe Michael has been gone that long.
Jimmy Dean (not Jimmy Buffet) is in your picture.
vs 
One of the guys in the office said that about the Oracle of Omaha. We still tease him about it.
One mistake, and he can never live it down.
Marilyn Monroe’s estate continues to make significant money through licensing deals and movie residuals, primarily managed by the Authentic Brands Group. Her likeness is licensed to nearly 100 brands, making her one of the highest-earning deceased celebrities.
Licensing: The most significant income comes from licensing her name and image to a wide variety of products and brands, from fashion to cosmetics.
Film royalties: Her estate also earns residual income from her movies.
Estate management: A company, currently Authentic Brands Group, manages the rights and licensing for her brand, which is a key driver of her continued earnings.
Yep. That was intentional Both Jimmy Buffet and Jimmy Dean made lots if not most of their money from non-music stuff.
Dean made his mark with Big Bad John. I listened to it again while looking up his photo. Wow - there is really not much going on except a bass, vocals and everything else mixed low. Yet with those lyrics it was a powerfully told ballad.
Michael Jackson is Dead? Mmmm...when?
We have a book of “famous sayings”
We literally call it The Book. One of the traders keeps it in their desk.
When someone says something stupid we all say , Oh that’s going in the book.
A couple of my personal favorites:
“Don’t bark up a tree that won’t let you climb it”
“Don’t beat a dead bush”
“It’s all water over the bridge(not dam)”
Several years ago I suggested to JimRob that FR should award certain FReepers with recognition for their posts, research, new information, useful volume of contributions and he said he said he’d consider it.
I don’t think anything came of it but you would have been on the list. ;-)
Charlie
Buffett did pretty good for a guy that was busted for drug dealing at one time. I met him at his restaurant. Very nice and he was a Kappa Sig at Southern Miss.
Yes, I did go to Faustos and get a chocolate milk.
Yeah, my company is building a Margaritaville in Galveston.
Wow. You met him.
He said in an interview that it became increasingly awkward to sing his lyrics once he became rich.
The winner by a nose!
No Roger Whittaker? No Slim Whitman? No Roger Miller?
It was Spring Break of 1987 I think. He was shorter than I had thought. I discovered him in 1976 on my freshman hall. He played on campus that year.
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