Kurt Cobain Earned More Than Any Other Dead Celebrity This Year

Movie stars make big money up front, but singers' records keep selling and songwriters' compositions keep earning royalties long after they're gone. So it shouldn't be too surprising that three of the top four and seven of the top 13 people on Forbes magazine's list of deceased celebrity earners come from the music world.

Leading the way between October 2005 and this month was former Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, whose estate grossed $50 million U.S. That figure was given a big boost after Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, sold 24.5 per cent of Nirvana's publishing catalogue to Primary Wave Music Publishing's Larry Mestel for an undisclosed amount that was speculated to be more than $50 million. Nirvana albums also sold 1.1 million copies in the U.S. last year.

Last year's top-earning corpse, Elvis Presley, finished second this time around with $42 million, down $3 million from 2005.

The other non-breathing musicians to make Forbes' list of 13 are: John Lennon in fourth with $24 million; Ray Charles in eighth with $10 million; Johnny Cash in 10th with $8 million; and George Harrison and Bob Marley, who took the final two spots with $7 million each.

The non-musicians on the list are: Peanuts comic strip creator Charles Schulz in third with $35 million; physicist Albert Einstein in fifth with $20 million; pop artist Andy Warhol in sixth with $19 million; children's book author Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) in seventh with $10 million; actress Marilyn Monroe in ninth with $8 million; and Lord Of The Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien in 11th with $7 million.

Forbes has compiled the list for six years, and this is the first time that Presley wasn't at the top of it. It's the first time that Cobain has appeared on it at all.