Michael Jackson tops list of dead celebs coining it

King of Pop Michael Jackson has topped the Forbes list for the seventh time, after recently being named in the list of Top-Earning Dead Celebrities for 2019.

Michael, who died in 2009, earned $60-million (about R883m) this year, beating second placed Elvis Presley, who earned $39m.

Rapper Nipsey Hussle also made the list of top 10 high earners with $11 million for the year. 

Michael's earnings came as allegations of sexual abuse were leveled against him in the popular HBO documentary Leaving Neverland. 

According to Forbes, Michael’s streaming numbers “surged”, despite the scandal, to “2.1 billion US spins, up from 1.8 billion a year ago".

“With proceeds flowing from his Mijac Music catalogue, a Las Vegas show and a long-term deal with Sony, he retains his postmortem cash crown for the seventh consecutive year,” the publication reported.

The list looks at the pretax income from October 1 2018 through to October 1 2019. 

"We compile our numbers with the help of data from Nielsen Music, IMDBPro  and interviews with industry insiders. Fees for agents, managers, and lawyers are not deducted,” the publication explained.

Here is the full top 10 list:

Michael Jackson – musician: $60m

Elvis Presley – musician: $39m

Charles Schultz – cartoonist: $38m

Arnold Palmer – golfer: $30m

Bob Marley – musician: $20m

Dr Seuss – author: $19m

John Lennon – musician: $14m

Marilyn Monroe – actress: $13m

Prince – musician: $12m

Nipsey Hussle – musician: $11m

XXXTentacion – musician: $10m

Whitney Houston –musician: $9.5m

George Harrison – musician: $9m