5. Michael Jackson
The King of Pop was on top of the world once, but had a pretty rough go towards the end. Haunted by creepy allegations about minors sleeping in his bed and drinking from Coke cans that were actually full of wine. His face had turned into a plastic surgery fail of epic proportions. His children were caught up in strange custody battles, and he hadn’t had a billboard topper in decades. But leave it to death to wipe the slate clean. All earthly misdeeds were forgiven, and everyone remembered what they loved about him. Michael Jackson was the top earning dead celeb in 2015, and may be for years to come, having earned a posthumous billion.
6. Bruce Lee
Here’s a guy that changed the film industry forever by popularizing martial arts and opening doors for Asians in Hollywood. Born in San Francisco, Bruce Lee split his time between the Bay Area, Hollywood and Hong Kong. Films like Enter the Dragon and Game of Death are well known, but what few people know are details of his death. While perfectly fit, and just 32 years old, Lee succumbed to brain edema, or death due to sudden enlargement of the brain. His official autopsy report declared “death by misadventure.” Conspiracy theories have circled ever since, claiming everything from allergic reaction to painkillers to a curse made by the Triad Family, which could explain the untimely death of his son Brandon Lee years later.
7. Paul Walker
Paul Walker’s untimely death during the filming of Furious 7 was a blow to franchise fans around the world. Those same fans turned out in droves to see the finished work, which was also something of a tribute to the late actor. The film earned an insane $1.5 billion worldwide. His estate, meanwhile, got a piece of the backend, and it’s believed Walker earned about $10.5 million since his death.
8. Ray Charles
Billy Joel once said that Ray Charles was even more important to popular music than Elvis Presley, and he’s probably right. Elvis was kind of a copycat, who used his unreal mimicry skills to reproduce rock songs, and made them popular. Meanwhile Ray Charles was the artist that blended gospel, soul, country, and blues and actually invented what rock and roll sounds like. If you listen through a catalog of Ray Charles’ career you’ll be blown away. Some of those early tunes back in the 1950s are rocking and catchy as hell. He was not the guy on the Diet Pepsi commercials. And he was no sappy Jamie Foxx either. The dude was a genius.