According to Forbes Magazine, Michael Jackson topped the list of top-earning dead celebrities of 2010.

In the last year the Michael Jackson estate has earned a massive 275 million dollars. Only one other celebrity earned more that the King of Pop and that was the living Oprah Winfrey.

Anyway, back to the dead celebrates.

The Jackson estate is said to have made around 50 million from album sales and air-play rights. A further 60 million was taken for the rights to the ‘This is it’ documentary which featured footage of Jackson rehearsing for what was to be his comeback tour while memorabilia and a re-released autobiography was thought to have brought in another 50 million. While other revenue streams took care of the rest.

Here’s the top five dead celebrity rich-list as compiled by Forbes…

• 1. Michael Jackson – $275m
• 2. Elvis Presley – $60m
• 3. JRR Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings) – $50m
• 4. Charles Schulz (Peanuts) – $33m
• 5. John Lennon (The Beatles) – $17m

Photo courtesy of starpulse.com

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