Bob Marley Is 11th ‘Highest-Paid Dead Celebrity’ In 2021
Reggae legend Bob Marley has made yet another appearance on Forbes’ annual ‘Highest-Paid Dead Celebrity’ list.
Marley, who passed away in 1981 from cancer, came in at No. 11 of 13 on the 2021 list of money-making dead celebs, with his estate raking in a whopping US$16 million this year.
“The reggae star’s brand— which covers speakers, turntables, headphones, clothing, and lighters— has expanded into psychedelics, thanks to an exclusive multi-year license agreement with Silo Wellness Inc. in June to develop a mushroom product line called ‘Marley One’,” Forbes reported.
Marley has been featured on the ‘Highest-Paid Dead Celebrity’ list 17 times since 2001—the year the business magazine began tracking the pre-tax earnings of departed celebs, from sales, streaming, licensing, and other data sources.
According to Forbes, the Marley estate has earned at least US$246 million over the last 20 years.
“His listeners also keep coming back to his hits like ‘Is This Love’ and ‘Jamming,’ consistently streaming his songs one billion times per year in the U.S.,” they noted, in the list published on October 30.
Both songs are featured on the 14-track Bob Marley and The Wailers compilation album, Legend, which could soon hit the milestone of 100 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart.
In May of this year, Forbes also reported that Legend was the second album in history to spend a whopping 13 years or 676 weeks, on the Billboard 200 chart. The album has a Diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold over 15 million copies in the United States.
Topping the Highest-Paid Dead Celebrity list this year was British novelist Roald Dahl, creator of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and 43 other books, 16 of which were adapted into feature films. The earnings of his estate came in at US$513 million in 2021.
Other deceased celebrities who made the list include Prince with $120 million; Michael Jackson with US$75 million; Charles Schultz with US$40 million; Theodor ‘Dr. Seuss’ Geisel with US$35 million; Bing Crosby with US$33 million; Elvis Presley with US$30 million; golf legend, Arnold Palmer with US$27 million; Gerry Goffin with US$23 million; R&B icon Luther Vandross with US$21 million, Jarad ‘Juice WRLD’ Higgins with US$15 million, and former Beatles member, John Lennon with US$12 million.