Words by Ime Ekpo
Forbes annual amplified list of the top-earning dead celebrities is out and it looks like the King of Pop, Michael Jackson has once again, taken the top spot. With earnings standing at $75 million, the King’s postmortem authority is growing at large, swiftly.
Last Friday night (October 27), CBS premiered the first ever Michael Jackson’s Halloween special which accumulated a viewership amount of 5.67M placing CBS in the lead ratings for the 8 pm time slot as the number one non-sports related broadcast of the evening.
Post Jackson’s death, in partnership with the theatrical production company, Cirque du Soleil and the Michael Jackson Estate came the Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour, which ran from October 2011 to August 2014, with box office earnings touching $371 million. Following the success of The Immortal World Tour, Cirque du Soleil produced Michael Jackson: One which premiered in May 2013. The show appears to own a residence at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and is acclaimed to be Jackson’s top earner of 2017.
Besides the Michael Jackson Estate’s partnership with Cirque du Soleil and the Michael Jackson Halloween special, there are several other ventures that tally up Jackson’s $75 million for the year. These ventures include a Halloween themed compilation album that was released approximately one month ago titled, Scream, along with a stake in the EMI music publishing catalog.