Michael Jackson has been gone for 15 years… yet in 2024, he out-earned every living celebrity on the planet according to a new Project Nightfall report.
His estate pulled in an astonishing $600 million — thanks largely to a jaw-dropping $1.2 to $1.5 billion deal selling half his music catalog to Sony. Add in streaming royalties, licensing, and the rights to his upcoming biopic “MJ,” and the King of Pop’s empire is still unmatched.
For context, Taylor Swift’s record-shattering Eras Tour brought in about $400 million, Dwayne Johnson made $88 million, and Tom Cruise earned $25 million.
Even other legendary estates couldn’t keep up — Freddie Mercury earned $250 million, Elvis Presley $50 million. Since his passing in 2009, Jackson’s estate has generated an estimated $3.2 billion, proving that his influence — and the world’s hunger for his music — show no sign of fading.
Half of Michael Jackson’s publishing and recording masters were acquired by Sony Music Group for $600 million in 2024. The entire catalogue is valued at approximately $1.2 billion, if not more.
According to sources, the intricate agreement also incorporates assets from Jackson’s renowned Mijac publishing catalogue, which includes hits by Dion, Jackie Wilson, Curtis Mayfield, Ray Charles, Percy Sledge, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others, as well as several titles by Sly & the Family Stone. Royalties from the Broadway musical “MJ” and other theatrical works that use the musician’s songs are not included in this, though.
For the entirety of Jackson’s solo career and the later years of his Jackson 5 career, his recorded music catalogue was exclusively available through Sony and its predecessor, CBS. The singer passed away in 2009 at the age of 50. Branca, his long-time lawyer, and co-executor John McClain have handled his estate’s enormous entertainment holdings with firmness.
Jackson has one of the most profitable recorded music catalogues in history; his 1982 album “Thriller” alone is among the two best-selling albums of all time and was the first to receive a 30-times platinum certification, but these numbers have become confusing in the era of streaming.
The Jackson estate and Sony Corp. came to an agreement in 2016 for Sony Corp. to pay $750 million for the Jackson estate’s 50% share in Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a joint venture they had established in 1995. In 2018, Sony disclosed in an earnings report that it had paid $287.5 million to acquire the Jackson estate’s 25.1% interest in EMI Music Publishing as part of its $2.3 billion acquisition of the company.
After a lengthy procedure that started six years prior but was not approved by the European Union until 2018, Sony acquired complete ownership of EMI and Sony/ATV, becoming the sole proprietor of the biggest music publishing firm in the world.
