While an unusual amount of celebrities have passed away this year, Michael Jackson tops Forbes list of top-earning dead celebrities in 2016 with the March sale of his half of Sony/ATV music publishing catalog for $750 million. Jackson’s pretax payday of $825 million is more money than any celebrity dead or alive made in 2016. In total, the sale gave Jackson’s estate a 30% annualized return on his investment. Coming in the number two spot is Peanuts creator Charles Schulz with $48 million. Schulz died sixteen years ago but still lives on through his franchise. Rounding out the top three is Arnold Palmer with $40 million.
See Zack O’Malley Greenburg, The Highest-Paid Dead Celebrities of 2016, Forbes, October 12, 2016.
