![\"\"](\"http:\/\/images.starpulse.com\/pictures\/2011\/05\/02\/previews\/MichaelJackson-0039-20110502-60.jpg\")
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For a second straight year Michael Jackson is the world\u2019s top dead earner, according to a macabre list compiled by Forbes magazine of stars whose earning power remains undiminished beyond the grave.<\/p>\n
The King of Pop, who died two years ago at the age of 50, brought in $170 million for his estate over the past 12 months, enough to place him ahead of every other pop music act of the past year\u2014both living and dead\u2014except for Irish rock band U2.<\/p>\n
Elvis came in second place, earning $55 million, thanks to his evergreen songbook and a hit Las Vegas stage production featuring his tunes mounted by Cirque de Soleil.<\/p>\n
In third place was movie siren Marilyn Monroe, who had $27 million in earnings over the past year.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeanuts\u201d cartoon creator Charles Schulz was fourth while Beatles\u2019 legend John Lennon tied for fifth place with screen goddess Elizabeth Taylor, both earning $12 million.<\/p>\n
While much of Lennon\u2019s revenues came as payment from other musicians performing his music, Taylor\u2019s largely came from her best-selling perfume White Diamonds. The fragrance had gross sales of $54 million in the United States in 2010, according to industry experts cited by Forbes.<\/p>\n
Taylor\u2019s estate also appears likely to net handsomely from a December sale later this year by the Christie\u2019s auction house featuring the late actress\u2019s jewels, art work and gowns. Experts said it could fetch $30 million.<\/p>\n
Forbes, which compiled its list by consulting agents, lawyers and other experts, said the year\u2019s 15 deceased top earners were:<\/p>\n
1. Michael Jackson<\/p>\n
2. Elvis Presley<\/p>\n
3. Marilyn Monroe<\/p>\n
4. \u201cPeanuts\u201d cartoon creator Charles Schulz<\/p>\n
5. John Lennon, tied with Elizabeth Taylor<\/p>\n
7. Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein<\/p>\n
8. Children\u2019s author Theodor \u201cDr. Seuss\u201d Geisel<\/p>\n
9. Rock legend Jimi Hendrix; Swedish writer Stieg Larsson; Hollywood actor Steve McQueen; and legendary composer Richard Rodgers<\/p>\n
13. Beatle George Harrison, tied with American pin-up girl Bettie Page and pop art creator Andy Warhol <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For a second straight year Michael Jackson is the world\u2019s top dead earner, according to a macabre list compiled by Forbes magazine of stars whose earning power remains undiminished beyond the grave. The King of Pop, who died two years ago at the age of 50, brought in $170 million for his estate over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":706,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681\/revisions\/706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}