Kurt Cobain has stolen Elvis Presley's crown as the latest top-earning dead celebrity.
The Nirvana front man, who committed suicide 12 years ago, raked in $50-million (U.S.
) between October 2005 and October 2006, according to a list compiled by Forbes.com. Coming in second was the King of Rock'n Roll, Elvis Presley, who earned $42-million.
The 12 men and one woman on the Forbes magazine list earned a collective $247-million in the last 12 months. Each of them made at least $7-million to make it on the list.
How do dead celebrities bring in money?
Their estates generate the riches through deals that involve both their work, as well as the rights to use their name and likenesses on merchandise and marketing campaigns.
In Cobain's case, his widow Courtney Love sold a 25 per cent stake of Nirvana's song catalogue in April to a New York publishing company for a reported $50-million. The company plans to use the music in an episode of the hit television show, The other dead celebrities who got richer last year were: cartoonist Charles M.
Schulz; musicians John Lennon, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, George Harrison and Bob Marley; scientist Albert Einstein; artist Andy Warhol; and authors J.R.R.
Tolkien and Theodor Geisel, who is best known for his work as Dr. Seuss.
Actress Marilyn Monroe, who died in 1962, was the only woman who made the Forbes list.
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