In Nigeria we have lost so many talented stars notably Dagrin,CD John and MC Loph but one wonder if there are structure put in place by their record labels to continue managing the artist undone work and keep record of their earnings as obtained abroad.

Last week, FORBES launched its annual Halloween-
spooky special package on the top-earning dead
celebrities. Atop the list was Michael Jackson, who
earned $170 million last year–more than any other
departed star, and more than any living musical act
besides U2.
The late King of Pop wasn’t the only musician on the
list. Among the top 13 postmortem money-makers,
five were musicians. All of them saw strong earnings
from a combination of recorded music, publishing,
image and likeness rights, and a slew of other
revenue streams opened up by savvy executors. And
what better day than October 31st to take a deeper
look at their finances.
Michael Jackson is the best example of how a star can
continue to shine from beyond the grave, both
musically and financially. His estate made a flurry of
deals in the wake of his death, including a seven-year
music deal with Sony worth as much as $250 million.
Another $60 million rolled in for the rights to This Is
It, which subsequently became the highest-grossing
concert film and documentary of all time.
More recently, DVD sales and publishing royalties
from Jackson’s stake in the Sony/ATV publishing
catalog and his own Mijac Music have added double-
digit millions to his annual take. Next up: A Cirque du
Soleil show, “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World
Tour.”
Michael Jackson may be the King of Pop and of
postmortem earnings, but Elvis will always be the
King of Rock and Roll. That’s not a bad line of afterlife
work, either—Presley racked up $55 million last year,
the bulk of which came from Graceland admissions,
licensing and merchandising, and a Cirque du Soleil
show of his own. CKx, the company that bought the
bulk of the Presley estate from daughter Lisa Marie,
was acquired by billionaire Leon Black’s Apollo Global
Management in June.
Third on the list is John Lennon, who pulled in $12
million. The former Beatle was killed in New York City
over 30 years ago, but his estate continues to collect
cash. Buoyed by long-awaited inclusion in the iTunes
Store, the Beatles sold 1.6 million albums in 2010,
tenth-best of any musical act dead or alive. In
addition to those royalties, Lennon earns from the
group’s Cirque du Soleil show and from licensing
deals with the likes of Cisco and Mont Blanc.
Jimi Hendrix ranks fourth with $7 million. The original
guitar hero endures with his song Foxy Lady
currently running in an HP campaign and a wave of
new releases in the works.
This year, the Hendrix estate partnered with Amazon
to release an exclusive fifth disc to go along with his
four-disc Winterland boxed set. In addition, two more
live DVDs were added to the mix, supplementing
income from sales of Hendrix’s music.
Rounding out the top five is George Harrison, with $6
million. The youngest Beatle continues to earn from
the beloved group’s immortal popularity. Like
bandmate John Lennon, his earnings enjoyed a boost
from the 1.6 million albums the group sold in 2010,
as well as the Cirque du Soleil show and licensing
deals.
Though Harrison did pen hits like “Here Comes the
Sun” and “Something,” his songwriting catalog is
somewhat smaller than Lennon’s, as is the demand
for image and likeness rights, hence the lower
earnings.
Full Coverage: The Top-Earning Dead
Celebrities
To compile our list, we spoke to agents, lawyers and
other sources to estimate each star’s gross earnings
(before taxes, administrative fees and other costs)
from October 2010 to October 2011. Two departed
stars who didn’t quite make the top five: Amy
Winehouse and Tupac Shakur.
A regular on this list in the ten years following his
untimely departure, Shakur has sold over 75 million-
records worldwide, the bulk of that coming after his
death. Seven of his 11 platinum albums were
released posthumously, but there hasn’t been
another since 2006. He still made an estimated $4
million over the past year thanks to music sales and
licensing.
As for Winehouse, her opus Back To Black sold
175,000 units in the month after her death, but it
wasn’t quite enough to boost her earnings to the $6
million mark required to make this list. The beehived
diva may yet make the list, though–her estate has
just announced that her third album, Lionness:
Hidden Treasures, will be released on December 5th.