8 years after the king of pop Michael Jackson’s death, he winds up on the top of the leader board for this year’s highest paid celebrities. 

How does this happen ? 

Before he died, in 1985 Jackson purchased a music catalog that included a lot of work done by the Beatles for more than $47 million. 

But that’s not when the spending stopped. 

Back in March a portion of the catalog that Jackson had was bought by Sony for a whopping $750 million. 

That leaves Jackson with $825 million before taxes in 2016 which means that he is the highest paid celebrity dead or alive in 2016. 

Last question you might be asking, where does all of that money go? 

Because Jackson is deceased, all of the money that he is making now goes to his estate meaning that his family.

He beat out people like Taylor Swift who is the highest paid living celebrity who earned $170 million before taxes in 2016. 

This is the list courtesy of Forbes of the other highest-paid celebrities that are no longer with us. 

13- Elizabeth Taylor ($8M)
12- Steve McQueen ($9M)
11- David Bowie ($10.5M)
10- Bettie Paige ($11M)
9- Albert Einstein ($11.5M)
8- John Lennon ($12M)
7- Dr. Seuss ($20M)
6- Bob Marley ($21M)
5- Prince ($25M)
4- Elvis Presley ($27M)
3- Arnold Palmer ($40M)
2- Charles Shultz ($48M)
1- Michael Jackson ($825M)

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