Prince and David Bowie enter Forbes dead celebrity list topped by Michael Jackson

Jackson topped the list with an estimated income of $825million (£677 million)
High earner: Prince ranked fifth
Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images
Emma Powell13 October 2016
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

David Bowie and Prince are new entries in the latest list of Forbes’ highest-earning dead celebrities.

The late musicians have been added to the annual list following their deaths earlier this year.

Prince ranked number five with an estimated pre-tax income from October 1, 2015 to October 1, 2016 of $25 million (£20.5million).

The Purple rain singer – who died from an overdose at his home, aged 57, on April 21 – has sold more than 2.5 million albums over the past year, more than any other dead musician.

Bowie narrowly missed out on the top 10, and ranked number 11 with an estimated income of $10.5million (£8.5million).

The Ziggy Stardust musician died from cancer on January 10, just two days after releasing his final album Black Star. A spike in sales following his death saw Bowie outsell Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley in the last year.

Missed out: David Bowie ranked eleventh 
Darryl Dyck/AP Photo

Prince and Bowie were eclipsed by Jackson who, despite being dead since 2009, topped the list with an estimated income of $825million (£677 million).

Jackson held a 50 per cent stake in Sony ATV Music Publishing as part of a business partnership that began in 1995.

Peanuts creator Charles Schulz claimed second with $48 million (£39 million) while US golfer Arnold Palmer (£32.8 million) rounded off the top three with $40 million.

David Bowie - in pictures

1/21

Elvis Presley - who died in 1977 - took fourth place with $27 million (£22.2 million).

Fellow singers Bob Marley and John Lennon ranked sixth and eighth with earnings of $21 million (£17.2 million) and $12 million (£9.8 million) respectively.

Other names on the list include model Bettie Page, scientist Albert Einstein and author Theodor Geisel.

Actors Steve McQueen and Elizabeth Taylor missed out on the top 10 and ranked twelfth and thirteenth with earnings of $9 million (£7.4 million) and $8 million (£6.6 million) respectively.

Follow @StandardEnts or like us on Facebook for more entertainment news.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in