Michael Jackson, the World’s Richest Dead Artist
by Sheldon Rocha Leal
Michael Jackson passed away 14 years ago and since his passing his existence has been just as controversial as his life. In the last 15 years there have been controversies about his death, life, interactions, estate, music and even his wealth. Regarding the controversies, it is really difficult for me to comment as the man is now gone, not here to defend himself and I was not present at any of these interactions to make informed judgements. It’s difficult to make judgements when one does not have all the facts and on top of that, all the sides to the story. As the legendary US film producer said “there are three sides to a story: your side, my side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each differently” (Robert Evans, 2002).
The focus of this article is, therefore, the facts that have prevailed over the past 15 seasons since Michael’s passing. The fact is that for 14 years of the 15 years, since his passing, no matter the controversy, Michael has been one of the Top 3 earning deceased celebrities on the related Forbes list (first appearing on the list in the year he passed in 2009). Michael has dominated the chart since his passing, at one point spending 8 consecutive years at No1 (2013–2020), beating Elvis Presley’s previous record of 5 consecutive years (2001–2005). In 2022 Michael dropped to No6 on the list, only to return to pole position in 2023. Only 6 individuals have ever occupied the No1 position in the chart’s 21 year history: Elvis Presley (2001–2005, 2007/8); Kurt Cobain (2006); Michael Jackson (2010/11, 2013–2020, 2023); Elizabeth Taylor (2012); Ronald Dahl (2021); JRR Tolkien (2022).
So how much money has Michael Jackson earner since his passing in 2009? That is the main focus of this article. The numbers are astronomical and something to behold. He has been as successful in death as he was in life. This is a testament to the lasting impression his talent has left on music listeners and his impact on popular culture, which is felt to this day. So let’s ventilate these numbers to determine the King of Pop’s earning power since his passing.
2009 ($90million)
The Forbes Highest Earning Dead Celebrities List is usually published towards the end of the year and was first published in 2001. Michael Jackson passed away on the 25th of June 2009, so when he appeared on his first list, it had not been a full year since his passing. I remember that immediately after his passing, there was a rush on music retailers, with fans wanting to access a small part of the legend. The rush was so immense that stores across the world, who were not expecting the deluge, ran out of stock, so for a few days in June there was no available stock of Michael Jackson content.
In the first week after his passing, three of his albums entered the Top 5 selling albums in the world and his albums shifted over 700,000 units. The shortage of stock was remedied in the second week and the sales figures were astronomical, 1,7million units shipped worldwide. The craze just grew from one week to the next and by the end of 2009 Michael Jackson was the biggest selling artist of the year. His record sales for 2009 amounted to over 31million shipped units. In that year’s Forbes List of Highest Earning Deceased Celebrities, Michael Jackson’s estate had generated over $90million, placing him 3rd on the list, behind Rogers and Hammerstein (No2: $235million) and Yves Saint Laurent (No1: $350million).
2010 ($275million)
The year 2010 was the first full year after Michael Jackson’s passing. In that year his estate signed a $250million 10 album recording deal with Sony until 2017, relating to his back catalogue. The deal gave Sony the right to exploit his music in video games, amusement park rides, television adverts, memorabilia, DVD compilations and other platforms. It is considered the biggest recording deal in history and puts Jay-Z’s $150million deal in a far distant second place. The deal shows the stronghold The King of Pop still had on the industry at a time when record sales were diminishing and mega deals were, therefore, not being negotiated. The deal was extended in 2017.
Michael Jackson’s estate benefited from income generated from the box office takings of the “This Is It” documentary, which generated over $260million in revenue worldwide, making it the highest earning documentary in history. It is reported that the estate took home 90% of the revenue generated by the movie. The soundtrack for the documentary shipped nearly 4million units globally and was the 3rd best selling album in the world for 2009. That, along with sales of back catalogue catapulted Michael Jackson to the top of the Forbes Highest Earning Deceased Celebrities list for the first time, far ahead of his competition: Elvis Presley (No2, $60million); JRR Tolkien, $50million).
2011 ($170million)
In this year a Cirque Du Soleil show based on Michael Jackson’s music was launched. The show, which cost $50million to produce was entitled “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour”. The show travelled to 4 continents (North America, Asia, Australia and Europe), 27 countries and encompassed 501 performances, with attendance figures of nearly 4million. It generated over $370million in box office receipts and is considered the 8th highest grossing world tour in history.
The soundtrack for the show shipped over 2million units worldwide and is the second biggest selling Cirque Du Soleil album after the “Love” soundtrack (Beatles inspired show). Additionally the first album of unreleased Michael Jackson content was released in December of 2010. The album is entitled “Michael” and includes collaborations with Lenny Kravitz, Teddy Riley, Akon and 50 Cent. The album peaked at No3 in the USA and No4 in the UK and shipped over 2million units worldwide. All this activity catapulted Michael Jackson back to the top of the Forbes Highest Earning Deceased Celebrities list for a second consecutive year, far ahead of his competitors: Elvis Presley (No2, $55million) and Marilyn Monroe (No3, $27million).
2012 ($145million)
Sony celebrated the 25th anniversary of the release of the “Bad” album in 2012. This anniversary issue was entitled “Bad 25” and contained unreleased tracks and new remixes, of some of the old songs, by Pitbull, DJ Buddha and Nero. The limited edition of the album also included a live DVD of a performance of Michael Jackson’s “Bad Tour” at Wembley, filmed in 1988. It is reported that over 1million units were shipped worldwide in its first week of release. The album has to date shipped over 45million units worldwide, since its initial release in 1987, making it one of the biggest selling albums of all time.
The release of the album was accompanied by a special Pepsi advertisement, which would have benefited the Michael Jackson estate. An earlier advertisement filmed in 1986, brought the The King of Pop $10million. This was the 5th Michael Jackson Pepsi advert. Had it not been for a special auction of Elizabeth Taylor’s famous jewels in 2012, which generated over $210million, Michael Jackson would have spent a 3rd consecutive year at the top of the Forbes List of Highest Earning Deceased Celebrities. Michael Jackson therefore peaked at No2 in 2012 and made space for his role model to take over the top spot. His nearest competition after Elizabeth Taylor was Elvis Presley who appeared at No3 on the list with revenues of $55million.
2013 ($160million)
Based on the success of “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour”, Cirque Du Soleil launched a new show based on the music of the King of Pop, “Michael Jackson: One”. As opposed to the former, “One” was designed to be a Las Vegas residency and it’s been in residence since it debuted. “The Immortal World Tour” ran simultaneously for the first two years of “One”. Additionally revenues from the “Bad 25” project spilled over into 2013, as the project was only released at the end of 2012. This could account for the increase in income generation in 2013.
At the same time the Michael Jackson estate filed a petition in the US Tax Court disputing the IRS’ valuation of the estate. Whilst executors claimed that the estate was worth $7million, the IRS disputed this claim valuing it at over $1billion. This led to further litigation in 2014, which to this day has still not been resolved. All those problems aside Michael Jackson’s earnings in 2013 took him back to the top of the Forbes list of Highest Earning Deceased Celebrities. The $160million generated by the estate was more than the No2–6 positions on the list combined. His closest competitors were Elvis Presley (No2, $55million) and Andy Williams (No3, $44million). Incidentally the singer Andy Williams passed away the previous year.
2014 ($140million)
In this year a second compilation of previously unreleased Michael Jackson content was released entitled “Xscape”. The album contained productions by some of the music industry’s most iconic producers: Timbaland, Babyface, Rodney Jerkins and Cory Rooney. The lead single was a duet with Justin Timberlake, “Love Never Felt So Good”, which peaked at No 9 USA and No8 UK and shipped over 1,7million units worldwide. The album peaked at No1 in the UK, No2 in the USA shipping an additional 1,7million units internationally. The vastly successful run of “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour” came to an end in August of 2014, whilst “Michael Jackson: One” continued its residency in Las Vegas. A film documenting Michael Jackson’s final photo shoot, costing $250,000 was also released in this year.
All this success aside the IRS reported that the Michael Jackson estate owed them $702million in taxes and penalties. Legal proceedings were instituted in 2017 and a final result was expected in 2019. That did not, however, prevent The King of Pop from taking over the No1 position on Forbes’ Highest Earning Deceased Celebrities list. With over $140million generated in 2014 Michael Jackson’s earnings equaled the earnings of the celebrities who held the No2–5 positions on the list. His closest rivals were Elvis Presley (No2, $55million) and Charles Schultz (the Peanuts cartoonist) (No3, $40million).
2015 ($115million)
Although there was not much musical activity in the Michael Jackson Estate in this year, they did sign a major branding and merchandising deal with ABG (Authentic Brand Group). Furthermore some of his iconic touring costumes went on auction and sold for big prices. The Neverland Ranch was also put up for sale, at a price tag of $100million, but has never been sold and is still owned by the Jackson family. Additionally Sony announced that “Thriller” had reached the 30million mark in the USA, making it the first album in US history to achieve this benchmark. His music continued to be sold and streamed in this year and the Las Vegas show continued to generate a healthy income.
The Wade Robson case was thrown out of court for having passed its statute of limitations, with Robson stating that he would appeal the verdict. All the above activity resulted in Michael Jackson taking the helm of the Forbes List of Highest Earning Deceased Celebrities for a third consecutive year. His nearest competitors for a second year in a row were Elvis Presley (No2, $55million) and Charles Schultz (No3, $40million). Moreover 6 years after his passing his estate breached the $1billion mark for the first time, indicating The King of Pop’s immense popularity and influence even after his departure.
2016 ($825million)
In this year the Michael Jackson estate secured a massive windfall when the family sold their 50% share of the Sony/ATV catalogue to Sony for an amount of $750million. Not a bad return on investment for a company for which Michael paid $46million in 1985. The amount generated by the Michael Jackson estate in 2016 is the highest recorded earnings year by a celebrity in Forbes’ history. That aside, I view the sale a bargain for Sony, considering the catalogue generates approximately $1,25billion in annual revenues. The money generated by the sale was used to pay a $250million debt owed by the estate to Sony and the rest was added to the estate.
The sale did not include the Michael Jackson Estate’s 10% stake in EMI publishing, part of a deal brokered by Sony in 2011 in which they bought the company’s publishing for $2.2billion or MIJAC Music. The latter is a company that hold’s Michael Jackson’s personal publishing. I found this sale sad considering that Michael Jackson did everything in his power, in his lifetime, not to sell his share to Sony, believing they were trying to sabotage his career to force him to sell his stake in the company. But once again I can’t judge considering I don’t know all the extenuating factors that resulted in this deal.
This windfall placed Michael Jackson at the top of the Forbes Highest Earning Deceased Celebrities list for a fourth consecutive year. His earnings for the year were more than the earnings of the people who occupied the next 12 positions combined. Michael’s closest rivals for 2016 were Charles Schulz (No2, $48million) and Arnold Palmer (No3, $40million). Arnold was a famous Golfer who passed away in 2016.
2017 ($75million)
After the major windfall secured by the estate in 2016, 2017 was always going to be a slow year. With very little activity in the estate the total amount generated in 2017 was $75million. Revenues could easily be attributed to the continuing Cirque Du Soleil residency in Las Vegas (“Michael Jackson: One”), the sale of back catalogue, publishing and the release of a new compilation album entitled “Scream”.
The latter was released in time for Halloween in 2017, and was billed as a Halloween album, featuring some of Michael Jackson’s spookier songs and a new remix of “Blood On The Dance Floor”. The album only peaked at No33 in the USA, but peaked at No9 in the UK. Additionally Sony/ATV signed an extension to their administration agreement with MIJAC Music, the company that holds the publishing in Michael Jackson’s songs (and a few other artists). The deal gives Sony/ATV the rights to administer the publishing of Michael Jackson’s songs for an extended period of time.
The year 2017 was the second lowest earnings year for Michael Jackson since his passing, that being said, however, it was enough to put him at the helm of the Forbes List of Highest Earning Deceased Celebrities. His nearest rivals for the year were Arnold Palmer (No2, $40million) and Charles Schulz (No3, $38million).
2018 ($400million)
The Michael Jackson Estate experienced a second windfall in 2018 with the sale of their 10% share in EMI to Sony/ATV for $287,5million. The family did not, however, relinquish their control over MIJAC Music, whose catalogue brings in double-digit millions into the estate annually. These earnings took the Michael Jackson estate over the $2billion mark 9 years after his passing and 3 years after the first billion was earned in 2015.
The $400million generated by the estate kept Michael Jackson at the top of the Forbes List of Highest Earning Deceased Celebrities for a 6th consecutive year. His total earnings for the year were worth more than the earnings of the celebrities occupying positions No2–13 combined. His closest rivals for the year were Elvis Presley (No2, $40million) and Arnold Palmer (No3, $35million).
2019 ($60million)
This year marked the 10 year anniversary of Michael Jackson’s passing. The year was mired by a documentary in which allegations were made about Michael Jackson’s child abuse. The documentary divided loyalties with many celebrities either admonishing his behaviour, whilst others stood by the King of Pop. Many, in the media, thought that documentary would cause major damage to the Michael Jackson brand and music consumption trends. The opposite was actually true, with streaming services reporting that there was a 17% increase in the steaming of Michael Jackson music in 2019.
But with no new album releases or major deals with the estate, revenues were limited to what was generated by Michael Jackson’s back catalogue, publishing and the Las Vegas residency. 2019 was actually the lowest income generating year for Michael Jackson since his passing. This low figure, however, did secure the King of Pop’s pole position on the Forbes List of Highest Earning Deceased Celebrities for a 7th consecutive year. His closest competitors for the year were Elvis Presley (No2, $39million) and Charles Schulz (No3, $38million).
2020 ($48million)
Since passing away in 2009, 2020 was the Michael Jackson Estate’s lowest earning year at $48million. That being said, however, Michael Jackson’s estate was the highest earning dead celebrity’s estate of the year making it his 8th consecutive year at the top of the Forbes list. Commentators reflected, after the airing of the damning child abuse documentary in 2019, that the fortunes of the Michael Jackson estate were precarious. This, however, did not come to pass and Michael Jackson is No1 on the Forbes list once more. Much of the income generated in 2019/2020 came from Michael Jackson’s MIJAC Music catalogue, which administers the publishing of Michael Jackson’s music along with music by Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin.
The King of Pop fended off competition from Dr. Seuss (No2, $33million), Charles Schulz (No3, $32.5million), Arnold Palmer (No4, $25million) and Elvis Presley (No5, $23million). Although his income was much less than last year, he was still $15million ahead of his nearest competitor.
2021 ($75million)
Although his estate earned more than it did in the 2020 financial year, his $75million earnings only secured him a 3rd position on the Forbes Highest Earning Deceased Celebrities in 2021. In September of 2021 Netflix penned a deal with the Roald Dahl estate for $511million, buying the Roald Dahl Story Company, essentially the late author’s entire estate. Prince’s siblings sold their stakes in the late star’s publishing to Primary Wave in August of 2021, giving the company a 42% stake in icons empire, valued at about $120million, making Prince the second highest deceased earner of 2021. This brings Prince’s total earnings since his passing in 2016 to just under $200million. Had it not been for these two deals, two months prior to the release of the Forbes list Michael Jackson would have headed the list for a 9th consecutive year. That being said, he still managed to hold on to a position in the Top 3 for a 13th consecutive year.
2022 ($70million)
In June the MJ The Musical, launched in December 2021, won 4 Tony Awards off 10 nominations. The show went on to generate over $65million at the box office. It was announced in October that Michael Jackson had shifted over 1million albums in that year. In November it was reported that Sony and the Michael Jackson estate were gearing up for a special 40 year celebration of the release of “Thriller”. Although the estate generated over $70million in 2022, Michael dropped to No6 on the list, his lowest position ever. The South African born author, JRR Tolkien, took pole position after sale of Middle-Earth Enterprises for the princely sum $500million. Kobe Bryant’s estate earned the second highest amount for the year, $400million, after the sale of his BodyArmor brand to Coca Cola for $5.6billion. David Bowie’s estate came third, generating $250million after the sale of his publishing. Elvis Presley’s estate took 4th spot with $110million, mostly after the success of the Baz Luhrmann movie. James Brown’s estate generated over $100million and took 5th spot after the estate was finally wound up and sold after a 15 year dispute.
2023 ($115million)
This is the first year since 2020 that the Michael Jackson estate featured at No1 on the Forbes’ List of Highest Earning Dead Celebrities and his 11th time at the top of the chart. In this year “MJ: The Musical” earned over $85million at the box office and over $149milliom since its launch in 2022. This excludes earnings from the “Cirque Du Soleil” show titled “Michael Jackson ONE”, which has been playing in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay since 2013 (i.e. the 10 year anniversary of the show). In 2024 his earnings should continue to rise as his estate has signed a deal for a Michael Jackson biopic titled “Michael”. The second highest earner of 2023 is Elvis Presley with earnings of over $100million, followed by Roy Manzarek, the Doors’ keyboardist, whose estate earned $45million. The top 5 is rounded off by Dr Seuss at No4, whose estate earned $40million and Charles Schulz whose estate earned $30million.
Since he passed away in 2009, 15 Forbes’ Highest Earning Deceased Celebrities lists have been published and Michael Jackson has headed 11 of them. With the exception of 2009, 2012, 2021 and now 2022, Michael has headed the chart, making him the most successful deceased celebrity since the founding of the list in 2001. Elvis Presley, who is probably his closest competitor has generated just over $1.134billion since 2001, whilst Michael Jackson has generated $2,763billion since 2009.
In the 15 years since his passing Michael Jackson has continued breaking records, not even allowing death to stop him, just as he did when he was alive. The following are some of the post-mortem records:
- Biggest recording deal in music history ($250million in 2010).
- Biggest pay day by a celebrity in history ($825million in 2016).
- The 8th biggest world tour in history in 2011, “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour” ($370million).
- Biggest music documentary in history in 2009, “This Is It” ($260million).
- One of the biggest sales years in history, 2009, 31million units shipped in a year.
Just as in his lifetime there has been no controversy, rumour or court case that has dampened the record buying public’s interest in the King of Pop. As we enter the second decade after Michael Jackson’s passing it will be interesting to see what his legacy will be and what audiences will think of him, with a growing distance between the man and the myth. But for now Michael Jackson rules the netherworld as he did the world of the living between 1958–2009…
