Michael Jackson is Still the Highest Paid Dead Celebrity

Forbes released its annual list of the 13 Top-Earning Dead Celebrities. Why 13? Because it's Halloween, and that's the scary number. Right?

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Anyway, Michael Jacksonn is #1 again this year. Since his death in 2009, he's topped the list in six of the eight years.

Here's this year's oh-so-spooky top 13 along with their estimated earnings over the past 12 months:

Michael Jackson, $825 million. Dead since 2009.
"Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz, $48 million. Dead since 2000.
Arnold Palmer, $40 million. Dead since three weeks ago.
Elvis Presley, $27 million. Dead since 1977.
Prince, $25 million. Dead since April of this year.
Bob Marley, $21 million. Dead since 1981.
Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, $20 million. Dead since 1991.
John Lennon, $12 million. Dead since 1980.
Albert Einstein, $11.5 million. Dead since 1955.
Bettie Page, $11 million. Dead since 2008.
David Bowie, $10.5 million. Dead since this past January.
Steve McQueen, $9 million. Dead since 1980.
Elizabeth Taylor, $8 million. Dead since 2011.

The celebrities that just missed the Top 13 are: Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra, Maya Angelou, Bruce Lee, Marilyn Monroe, Jose Fernandez, and Juan Gabriel.

The $825 million that Michael Jackson got was largely from the sale of his remaining half of the ATV publishing catalog, which included a library of Beatles songs. "Forbes" says that's the biggest one-year haul for any celebrity, dead or alive.

Michael paid $47.5 million for the whole catalog back in 1985. That's about $140 million in today's dollars. A lot of critics thought he overpaid for it, and that it was a terrible investment. But in the mid-'90s, Sony paid him $115 million for half of it and earlier this year, the other half sold for $750 million.