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When a great artist dies, it often doesn’t mean the end of his success. Fans of nostalgia play the greatest hits of their idols up and down, watch their films again or browse through their books. The US business magazine “Forbes” has now again the top earners among the dead stars determined.
The top ten are mostly musicians: Prince, John Lennon and Bob Marley are just a few of the deceased whose creative legacy is being discovered by new generations in the streaming age. There are also album sales and merchandise licensing.
Income sometimes increases after death
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Not infrequently, the hype around an artist is even increased by his early death: Prince (1958–2016) streaming and sales revenues have grown by 12 percent since his death. Even in the grave, he still earns around $ 12 million a year.
John Lennon’s (1940-1980) earnings last year even amounted to $ 14 million (around € 12.5 million) – a significant part of which was certainly the 50th anniversary of the legendary Beatles album “Abbey Road”. But Lennon’s solo music was 52 percent more in demand than in previous years.
Monroe earned through licensing
Actress Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962), on the other hand, makes the till sound different: it generates around $ 13 million (around 11.6 million euros) in sales per year through so-called licensing; Among other things, a Montblanc fountain pen collection bore its name, while the Chanel fashion house used video and sound recordings of the Hollywood icon for an advertising campaign. Monroe once said in an interview that she was wearing nothing more than a splash of Chanel No. 1 perfume in bed. 5.
The comic artist Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000) also enjoys great popularity in the afterlife. The inventor of the “peanuts” earns a whopping $ 38 million from his characters, especially dog Snoopy. In addition to greeting cards and gifts, this also adorns pajamas and underwear.
Michael Jackson remains number one
Rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis Presley (1935–1977) benefits from album sales and streams as well as from fantasy tourism: up to 500,000 people make a pilgrimage to his Graceland estate in Memphis every year. The annual revenue is around $ 39 million. The planned biographical film by “Moulin Rouge” director Baz Luhrmann is likely to further fuel the hype surrounding the man with the irresistible hip swing.
The undisputed leader is and remains Michael Jackson (1958–2009) with income of around $ 60 million (around € 53.7 million). Despite allegations of child abuse, the magic of the King of Pop seems unbroken: radio stations and DJs in discos play his songs up and down, a musical revives his songs for a new live audience. In 2019, Jacko’s songs were streamed even more than in 2018: they are 2.1 billion views.
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