Matthew Perry joins a heavenly chorus of pop stars—including Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury and Whitney Houston—as the greatest earners in the great beyond.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00The pop culture critic Chuck Klosterman once wrote,
00:03dying is the only thing that guarantees a rock star
00:06will have a legacy that stretches beyond
00:08temporary relevance.
00:09It also still pays well.
00:11In 2024, several music greats, including Michael Jackson,
00:15Freddie Mercury, Bob Marley, and Whitney Houston,
00:18are once again topping the charts
00:20of the highest paid dead celebrities.
00:22Music catalog income and estate deals
00:24remain the top income generators
00:26for deceased recording artists.
00:28But it's not all musicians who are earning the big bucks
00:30in the great beyond.
00:32The late Friends star Matthew Perry
00:33became the rare television actor to ever make the list.
00:37Perry, alongside co-stars Jennifer Aniston,
00:40Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, and David Schwimmer,
00:43are estimated to pull in some $18 million annually
00:46in royalties from the mega-hit sitcom.
00:50Here are 2024's highest earning dead celebrities.
00:54At number five, Rick Okasik.
00:58Okasik's millions came from a September deal
01:00with Primary Wave, with the company acquiring a stake
01:03in the late Cars frontman's publishing,
01:05name, image, and likeness rights.
01:08Among many hits, Okasik penned the group's
01:10most popular single, Just What I Needed,
01:12which was named one of Rolling Stone's
01:14500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
01:16Okasik and the Cars scored 13 top 40 singles
01:20and have sold over 200 million records.
01:23At number four, Elvis Presley.
01:26The king is dead, but his fans haven't left the building.
01:29A combination of licensing, music streaming,
01:31and revenues generated by Graceland,
01:33his Memphis, Tennessee home, remain extremely profitable.
01:37Graceland welcomed 600,000 visitors in the past year,
01:40according to family representatives,
01:42despite a fraudster's best efforts to sell it
01:44at a foreclosure auction in May.
01:46In August, the Department of Justice
01:48charged a Missouri woman with attempting
01:50to defraud the Presley family of millions.
01:53At number three, Dr. Seuss.
01:56The beloved children's book author,
01:58born Theodore Seuss Geisel,
02:00continues to delight young readers
02:01as The Cat in the Hat, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,
02:04and The Lorax are introduced to new generations.
02:08Licensing for theme parks, TV, movies, and apparel
02:11make up the rest of the author's earnings.
02:14Two new offerings include gold and silver collector's coins
02:17and Dr. Seuss babies, which are pint-sized versions
02:19of The Grinch and Cindy Lou Who, among others,
02:22are designed to entice the littlest of readers.
02:26At number two, Freddie Mercury.
02:29Queen's Freddie Mercury remains rock royalty
02:31in the afterlife, rejoining the list
02:34for the first time since 2020,
02:36with an estimated $250 million due
02:39to the group's $1 billion catalog sale to Sony in June.
02:43In total, Mercury earned $241 million more
02:46than his 2020 appearance, thanks to a jump
02:49in estate earnings from the Rami Malek-helmed biopic,
02:52Bohemian Rhapsody.
02:54And at number one, Michael Jackson.
02:57The King of Pop's estate scored a huge win in August,
03:00after a judge ruled that the $600 million catalog sale
03:04of his publishing and recorded master's rights
03:06to Sony could proceed, despite protestations
03:09from the late artist's mother, Katherine Jackson.
03:12Meanwhile, multiple revenue streams keep the dollar's
03:14moonwalking in, including MJ's Broadway musical
03:17and touring productions.
03:19All told, Forbes estimates that Jackson has earned
03:22more than $3.3 billion since his death in 2009.