Image from FashioneseDaily
These people wouldn’t be turning but smiling in their graves by now.
Top fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent who died of brain cancer in 2008 topped the list of wealthiest dead celebrities in an annual poll conducted by Forbes Magazine. He earned $350 million in the past 12 months.
Broadway songwriters Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein landed second, having combined earnings of $235 million. Michael Jackson, whose estate dramatically grew through countless tributes and projects after his death in June, only ranked third, earning a total of $90 million. Closing in on the King of Pop is the King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley who amassed $55 million. Completing the unusual list at number five is renowned author J.R.R. Tolkien who got $50 million.Saint Laurent rose to the top after much of his possessions were sold at fine arts auction house Christie’s. He was reported to have gathered $443 million in an auction that lasted for three days. The net of the proceeds went to the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation and a future anti-AIDS organization.
Over the course of 2008-2009, Rodgers and Hammerstein collected a huge amount of royalties from their compositions and raked in millions through the projects of their Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization.
Many expected that Michael Jackson would top the Forbes’ list. However, the poll only calculated earnings from October 2008 to October 2009, just four months after the King of Pop’s demise. On the other hand, calculations of Saint Laurent’s and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s estates included more millions earned within a longer time period.
However, the singer’s entry into the annual list was expected, with about 9 million albums and 5.5 million software albums globally. Other sources of income that are expected to be added are profits from the music documentary This is It, which features rehearsal footages and special videos of the cancelled 50-day Jackson concert, memorabilia auctions, royalties, and special merchandise. (Jezriel M)
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