Posted 37 minutes agoSubscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret DownThese 13 Celebrities Are Still Making More Money After Death Than Most Of Us Right NowTheir work lives on, and so do the rewards.by Arsheen Kaur SahniBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink So I came across this wild thing last week: there's an actual list of the highest-paid deceased celebrities. Yep, people who've passed away are somehow STILL cashing in big every year. I couldn't wrap my head around it at first. How does that even work? Who's managing their money? Tap to play GIF Tap to play GIF Robert E. Blackmon / Via giphy.com And leading this year's list is none other than Michael Jackson because, of course, he is. Tap to play GIF Tap to play GIF Giphy / Via giphy.com His biopic trailer just dropped, Thriller is back in the Billboard Hot 100 after forty years, and his estate is still pulling in more cash than most living artists. Billboard / Via billboard.com After some deep digging, I finally get it, and honestly, it's fascinating. Stick with me, this one's WORTH knowing. Tap to play GIF Tap to play GIF Sony Pictures / Via giphy.com Let's start with estate management. When a celebrity passes away, managing their empire becomes a full-time job. Every song, photo, logo, and even their face can be worth millions, and someone has to handle it all. That's where executors or trustees come in. Tap to play GIF Tap to play GIF Wolf Entertainment / Via giphy.com They're the ones keeping the money flowing, the image polished, and the brand alive. Whether it's a lawyer, a family member, or a big-shot trust company, they control everything from royalties and trademarks to real estate and name rights. Basically, they turn fame into a business that keeps running, even when the star's long gone. In MJ's case, his kids are beneficiaries of a trust, Elvis' estate splits profits with a corporation, and Dr. Seuss' goes partly to educational foundations. And no one's estate proves that better than Michael Jackson's. Most of his afterlife fortune comes from the empire he built while he was alive. Back in 1985, he dropped $47.5 million (around $142 million today) to buy the ATV music catalog, home to nearly 4,000 songs, including almost every Lennon-McCartney hit ever written. William Vanderson / Getty Images / Via gettyimages.in Owning that catalog meant Jackson earned a cut EVERY TIME one of those songs was played, covered, or used in a movie, ad, or TV show-basically, he was making money off The Beatles, even decades after they split. It was one of the smartest (and most lucrative) moves in music history. Tap to play GIF Tap to play GIF Giphy / Via giphy.com That one move turned into a billion-dollar payout when Sony bought it in 2016 for $750 million. And the money didn't stop there; in 2024, his estate sold half of his own music rights to Sony for another $600 million. Not everyone was on board with that deal (his mom even tried to block it), but clearly, MJ's business instincts are still paying off. Vince Bucci / Getty Images / Via gettyimages.in So yeah, this whole business of making money after death is apparently booming, and the numbers are honestly mind-blowing. These stars might be long gone, but their legacies are still hard at work. Here's a look at the 13 celebrities who, may they rest in peace, are still bringing in millions this year. 1. Michael Jackson - $105 million Chris Walter / WireImage / Via gettyimages.in His music continues to be his biggest moneymaker, but the rest of the MJ machine isn't slowing down either. MJ: The Musical is playing in multiple cities, his Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas just hit 5,000 performances (and got extended to 2030), and a biopic starring his nephew Jaafar is set to drop in April 2026. 2. Dr. Seuss - $85 million PhotoQuest / Getty Images / Via gettyimages.in Dr. Seuss-yes, the man behind The Cat in the Hat-is still schooling everyone in book sales. In 2024, he sold 4.8 million copies in the U.S., beating even J.K. Rowling. His timeless characters like the Grinch and the Cat continue to rake in major licensing money, and the Seuss empire is only growing. The estate teamed up with Netflix for three new series last year, a Warner Bros. animated Cat in the Hat is set for 2026, and a newly discovered manuscript, Sing the 50 United States, will drop next summer to mark America's 250th birthday. 3. Richard Wright - $81 million Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music / Getty Images / Via gettyimages.in Pink Floyd's founding keyboardist may have passed in 2008, but his music is still paying the bills in a big way. In 2024, Sony Music Publishing bought the band's catalog and name, image, and likeness rights for $400 million. Wright's estate received an equal cut of the deal, adding in royalties from the songs he co-wrote, and Wright's legacy is still adding gold bricks to that wall. 4. Syd Barrett - $81 Million Gems / Redferns / Via gettyimages.in The original Pink Floyd frontman and the mind behind the band's name, Syd Barrett,