This is a list of the world's highest-paid dead celebrities as ranked by Forbes magazine since October 2001.

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2025 list The 2025 list: RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 Michael Jackson Musician 2009 Manslaughter Overdose $105 million 2 Dr. Seuss Author1991 Natural causes Cancer $85 million 3 Richard Wright Musician 2008 $81 million 4 Syd Barrett 2006 5 The Notorious B.I.G. 1997 Homicide Shooting $80 million 6 Miles Davis1991Natural causes Stroke $21 million 7 Elvis Presley 1977 Heart attack $17 million 8 Jimmy Buffett 2023 Cancer $14 million 9 Bob Marley 1981 $13 million 10 John Lennon 1980 Homicide Shooting $12 million 11 Prince 2016 Accident Overdose $11 million 12 Arnold Palmer Athlete Natural causes Heart disease 13 Kobe Bryant 2020 Accident Helicopter crash $10 million

2024 list The 2024 list:

RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 Michael Jackson Musician 2009 Manslaughter Overdose $600 million 2 Freddie Mercury 1991Natural causes Pneumonia resulting from HIV/AIDS $250 million 3 Dr. Seuss Author Cancer $75 million 4 Elvis Presley Musician 1977 Heart attack $50 million 5 Ric Ocasek 2019 Heart disease $45 million 6 Prince 2016 AccidentOverdose $35 million 7 Bob Marley 1981 Natural causes Cancer $34 million 8 Charles Schulz Cartoonist 2000 $30 million 9 Matthew Perry Actor / 2023 Accident Overdose $18 million 10 John Lennon Musician 1980 Homicide Shooting $17 million 11 James Brown 2006 Natural causes Heart failure $15 million 12 Arnold Palmer Athlete 2016 Heart disease $14 million 13 Whitney Houston Musician 2012 Accident Drowning $13 million

2023 list The 2023 list:

RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 Michael Jackson Musician 2009 Manslaughter Overdose $115 million 2 Elvis Presley 1977 Natural causes Heart attack $100 million 3 Ray Manzarek 2013 Cancer $45 million 4 Dr. Seuss Author 1991 $40 million 5 Charles Schulz Cartoonist 2000 $30 million 5 Prince Musician 2016 Accident Overdose $30 millionWhitney Houston 2012 Drowning 8 John Lennon 1980 Homicide Shooting $22 million 9 Bob Marley 1981 Natural causes Cancer $16 million 10 Bing Crosby 1977 Heart attack $14 million 10 George Harrison 2001 Cancer $14 million 12 Arnold Palmer Athlete 2016 Heart disease $10 millionMarilyn Monroe Actor 1962 Suicide Overdose

2022 list The 2022 list:

J.R.R. Tolkien earned $500 million from the sale of Middle-earth Enterprises.

RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 J. R. R. Tolkien Author 1973 Natural causes Pneumonia $500 million 2 Kobe Bryant Athlete 2020 Accident Helicopter crash $400 million 3 David Bowie Musician 2016 Natural causes Cancer $250 million 4 Elvis Presley 1977 Heart attack $110 million 5 James Brown 2006 Heart failure $100 million 6 Michael Jackson 2009 Manslaughter Overdose $75 million 7 Leonard Cohen 2016 Accident Fall $55 million 8 Dr. Seuss Author 1991 Natural causes Cancer $32 million 9 Jeff Porcaro Musician 1992 Heart attack $25 million 10 Charles Schulz Cartoonist 2000 Cancer $24 million 11 Juan Gabriel Musician 2016 Heart attack $23 million 12 John Lennon 1980 Homicide Shooting $16 million 13 George Harrison 2001 Natural causes Cancer $12 million

2021 list The 2021 list:

Netflix announced the acquisition of the Roald Dahl Story Company, which manages the rights to Roald Dahl's stories and characters, for a fee of $684 million (£500m). Dahl's heirs held at least a 75% stake before the company was acquired. RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 Roald Dahl Author 1990 Natural causes Cancer $513 million 2 Prince Musician 2016 Accident Overdose $120 million 3 Michael Jackson 2009 Manslaughter $75 million 4 Charles Schulz Cartoonist 2000 Natural causes Cancer $40 million 5 Dr. Seuss Author 1991 $35 million 6 Bing Crosby Musician 1977 Heart attack $33 million 7 Elvis Presley $30 million 8 Arnold Palmer Athlete 2016 Heart disease $27 million 9 Gerry Goffin Lyricist 2014 Unspecified $23 million 10 Luther Vandross Musician 2005 Stroke $21 million 11 Bob Marley 1981 Cancer $16 million 12 Juice Wrld 2019 Accident Overdose $15 million 13 John Lennon 1980 Homicide Shooting $12 million

2020 list The 2020 list: RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 Michael Jackson Musician 2009 Manslaughter Overdose $48 million 2 Dr. Seuss Author 1991 Natural causes Cancer $33 million 3 Charles Schulz Cartoonist 2000 $32.5 million 4 Arnold Palmer Athlete 2016 Heart disease $25 million 5 Elvis Presley Musician 1977 Heart attack $23 million 6 Kobe Bryant Athlete 2020 Accident Helicopter crash $20 million 7 Juice Wrld Musician 2019 Overdose $15 million 8 Bob Marley 1981 Natural causes Cancer $14 million 9 John Lennon 1980 Homicide Shooting $13 million 10 Prince 2016 Accident Overdose $10 million 11 Freddie Mercury 1991 Natural causes Pneumonia resulting from HIV/AIDS $9 million 12 George Harrison 2001 Cancer $8.5 million 13 Marilyn Monroe Actor 1962 Suicide Overdose $8 million

2019 list The 2019 list: RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 Michael Jackson Musician 2009 Manslaughter Overdose $60 million 2 Elvis Presley 1977 Natural causes Heart attack $39 million 3 Charles Schulz Cartoonist 2000 Cancer $38 million 4 Arnold Palmer Athlete 2016 Heart disease $30 million 5 Bob Marley Musician 1981 Cancer $20 million 6 Dr. Seuss Author 1991 $19 million 7 John Lennon Musician 1980 Homicide Shooting $14 million 8 Marilyn Monroe Actor 1962 Suicide Overdose $13 million 9 Prince Musician 2016 Accident $12 million 10 Nipsey Hussle 2019 Homicide Shooting $11 million 11 XXXTentacion 2018 $10 million 12 Whitney Houston 2012 Accident Drowning $9.5 million 13 George Harrison 2001 Natural causes Cancer $9 million

2018 list The 2018 list:

Michael Jackson brought in $287 million from the sale of his estate's stake in Sony/ATV Music Publishing to Sony. RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 Michael Jackson Musician 2009 Manslaughter Overdose $400 million 2 Elvis Presley1977 Natural causesHeart attack $40 million 3 Arnold Palmer Athlete2016Heart disease $35 million 4 Charles Schulz Cartoonist2000Cancer $34 million 5 Bob Marley Musician 1981 $23 million 6 Dr. Seuss Author 1991 $16 million 7 Hugh Hefner Personality2017Sepsis $15 million 8 Marilyn Monroe Actor1962SuicideOverdose $14 million 9 Prince Musician2016Accident $13 million 10 John Lennon 1980Homicide Shooting $12 million 11 XXXTentacion 2018 $11 million 12 Muhammad Ali Athlete2016 Natural causesSeptic shock $8 million 13 Bettie Page Model2008Heart attack $7 million

2017 list The 2017 list: RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 Michael Jackson Musician 2009ManslaughterOverdose $75 million 2 Arnold Palmer Athlete2016 Natural causesHeart disease $40 million 3 Charles Schulz Cartoonist2000Cancer $38 million 4 Elvis Presley Musician1977Heart attack $35 million 5 Bob Marley 1981Cancer $23 million 6 Tom Petty 2017AccidentOverdose $20 million 7 Prince 2016 $18 million 8 Dr. Seuss Author1991Natural causesCancer $16 million 9 John Lennon Musician 1980HomicideShooting $12 million 10 Albert Einstein Scientist 1955Natural causesAneurysm $10 million 11 David Bowie Musician 2016Cancer $9.5 million 12 Elizabeth Taylor Actor2011Heart failure $8 million 13 Bettie Page Model 2008Heart attack $7.5 million

2016 list The 2016 list:

Michael Jackson had the largest annual gain for an entertainer, living or dead, due to the $750 million sale of his half of the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalogue. RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 Michael Jackson Musician 2009ManslaughterOverdose$825 million 2 Charles Schulz Cartoonist2000 Natural causesCancer$48 million 3 Arnold Palmer Athlete2016Heart disease $40 million 4 Elvis Presley Musician1977Heart attack $27 million 5 Prince2016AccidentOverdose $25 million 6 Bob Marley 1981 Natural causesCancer$21 million 7 Dr. Seuss Author 1991 $20 million 8 John Lennon Musician 1980HomicideShooting $12 million 9 Albert Einstein Scientist 1955 Natural causesAneurysm $11.5 million 10 Bettie Page Model 2008Heart attack $11 million 11 David Bowie Musician 2016Cancer $10.5 million 12 Steve McQueen Actor 1980Heart attack $9 million 13 Elizabeth Taylor 2011Heart failure $8 million

2015 list The 2015 list: RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 Michael Jackson Musician 2009ManslaughterOverdose$115 million 2 Elvis Presley1977 Natural causesHeart attack$55 million 3 Charles Schulz Cartoonist2000Cancer$40 million 4 Bob Marley Musician 1981 $21 million 5 Elizabeth Taylor Actor 2011Heart failure$20 million 6 Marilyn Monroe 1962SuicideOverdose$17 million 7 John Lennon Musician 1980HomicideShooting$12 million 8 Albert Einstein Scientist 1955 Natural causesAneurysm$11 million 9 Bettie Page Model2008Heart attack$10 million 10 Dr. Seuss Author1991Cancer$9.5 million 11 Steve McQueen Actor1980Heart attack$9 million 12 Paul Walker2013 Accident Car crash $8.5 million 12 James Dean 1955 $8.5 million

2014 list The 2014 list: RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 Michael Jackson Musician 2009ManslaughterOverdose$140 million 2 Elvis Presley1977 Natural causesHeart attack$55 million 3 Charles Schulz Cartoonist2000Cancer$40 million 4 Elizabeth Taylor Actor 2011Heart failure$25 million 4 Paul Walker 2013AccidentCar crash$25 million 6 Marilyn Monroe1962SuicideOverdose$17 million 7 John Lennon Musician 1980HomicideShooting$12 million 8 Albert Einstein Scientist 1955 Natural causesAneurysm$11 million 9 Dr. Seuss Author 1991Cancer$9 million Bruce Lee Actor /1973AccidentCerebral edema$9 million Steve McQueen 1980 Natural causesCancer$9 million 9 Bettie Page Model2008Heart attack$9 million 13 James Dean Actor1955AccidentCar crash $7 million

2013 list The 2013 list: RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 Michael Jackson Musician 2009ManslaughterOverdose$160 million 2 Elvis Presley1977 Natural causesHeart attack$55 million 3 Charles Schulz Cartoonist2000Cancer$37 million 4 Elizabeth Taylor Actor 2011Heart failure$25 million 5 Bob Marley Musician 1981Cancer$17 million 6 Marilyn Monroe Actor 1962SuicideOverdose$15 million 7 John Lennon Musician 1980HomicideShooting$12 million 8 Albert Einstein Scientist 1955 Natural causesAneurysm$10 million 8 Bettie Page Model 2008Heart attack$10 million 10 Dr. Seuss Author1991Cancer$9 million 10 Steve McQueen Actor1980Heart attack$9 million 12 Bruce Lee /1973AccidentCerebral edema $7 million

2012 list

The 2012 list: RankNameCareerNationYear of deathManner of deathCause of deathEarnings 1 Elizabeth Taylor Actor 2011Natural causesHeart failure$210 million 2 Michael Jackson Musician 2009ManslaughterOverdose$145 million 3 Elvis Presley1977 Natural causesHeart attack$55 million 4 Charles Schulz Cartoonist2000Cancer$37 million 5 Bob Marley Musician 1981 $17 million 6 John Lennon 1980HomicideShooting$12 million 7 Marilyn Monroe Actor 1962SuicideOverdose$10 million 7 Albert Einstein Scientist 1955 Natural causesAneurysm$10 million 9 Dr. Seuss Author 1991Cancer$9 million 10 Steve McQueen Actor1980Heart attack $8 million 10 Bettie Page Model 2008 12 Richard Rodgers Composer1979Cancer$6 million 13 George Harrison Musician 2001 $5.5 million

2011 list The 2011 list: