When Michael Jackson passed away on June 25th, 2009, he left behind an unparalleled musical legacy but also a mountain of debt, estimated around $400 million. His financial affairs were in such disarray that fears arose whether his estate could even cover his funeral. Yet, in a stunning turnaround, Jackson’s death ignited a career resurgence that has seen his estate earn billions, making him consistently the world’s highest-earning deceased celebrity.

Immediately following his death, sales of Jackson’s music skyrocketed. Billboard reported distributors quickly sold out of physical CDs, while digital sales surged, with over 800,000 albums and 2.7 million digital singles sold within two weeks in the U.S. alone.

The singer’s 2002 will named former attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain as executors. They moved swiftly to consolidate Jackson’s assets, primarily his valuable 50% stake in the Sony/ATV music publishing catalog, which, though estimated at $500 million, was heavily leveraged.

One of the estate’s first masterstrokes was a $60 million deal with Sony for “This Is It,” a documentary using rehearsal footage from Jackson’s planned London concerts. The film grossed $261 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing concert documentary. The accompanying album also debuted at number one. These successes, along with merchandising, netted almost $100 million in the first few months.

In March 2010, the estate secured a groundbreaking $250 million deal with Sony Music for up to 10 new Jackson projects over seven years, guaranteeing his heirs at least $200 million. By the first anniversary of his death, projects related to Jackson had grossed nearly $1 billion. This included posthumous albums like “Michael” and “Xscape,” the “Michael Jackson: The Experience” video game (selling 2 million units in two months), and highly successful Cirque du Soleil tribute shows. “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour” amassed $371 million, becoming Cirque’s most successful production.

Despite this income, the initial years were focused on debt reduction. By 2011, $159 million had been used to pay down liabilities. By 2012, much of the major debt was resolved or renegotiated, including $200 million in personal debt and $300 million tied to the Sony/ATV catalog.

The estate’s most significant financial windfalls came from strategic sales of Jackson’s assets. In 2016, Sony acquired Jackson’s 50% share of Sony/ATV Music Publishing for $750 million. This deal contributed to the estate earning an astounding $825 million that year alone – the highest annual earnings ever recorded by Forbes for any celebrity, living or d.e.a.d. In 2018, the estate’s 10% stake in EMI Music Publishing was sold to Sony for an additional $287.5 million, pushing Jackson’s earnings for that year to $400 million.

By the end of 2018, Jackson’s postmortem earnings had surpassed an incredible $2.4 billion. He has topped Forbes’ list of highest-earning d.e.a.d celebrities almost every year since his passing, only briefly supplanted in 2012 by Elizabeth Taylor’s estate due to a major jewelry auction.

The successful, albeit sometimes controversial, management by Branca and McClain (who reportedly earned 5% of profits) effectively erased Jackson’s colossal debts and transformed his estate into a fully solvent, multi-billion dollar enterprise. This incredible financial turnaround, from dire straits to unprecedented posthumous success, has become a case study in legacy management, far exceeding the earnings Jackson achieved even at the peak of his 1980s superstardom.