On the cusp of the release of the Bob Marley: One Love, movie starring Kingsley Ben Adir, next February, Forbes has reported that the Marley brand has made $16 million in 2023.
The Stir it Up singer who died on May 11, 1981 comes in at No. 9 on the list of Highest Paid Dead Celebrities for 2023 marking his return to the list after a hiatus last year. In 2021, Marley landed at No. 11 on the Forbes list with the exact earnings as this year, and in 2020 he made $14m to land at No. 8.
This year’s Dead Celebrity ranking by the business publication released on October 31, includes pretax earnings from sales, streams, licensing deals and other sources between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023, as well as estate acquisitions made or announced during the same period.The No. 1 dead celebrity this year is Michael Jackson who earned $115 million making a return for the first time since 2019.
Forbes compiles the numbers with the help of data from Luminate and interviews with industry insiders. Fees for agents, managers and lawyers are not deducted.
Bob Marley’s Long Term Legacy, Still Growing Strong 41 Years After His Death
Among the items listed as income earners for Marley who would have been 78 this year include his music, name, image and likeness which is used on Jerseys, sneakers, speakers and more recently and a cannabis line released via a Marley-branded dispensary in Jamaica.
Upon Bob Marley’s death, he left an estate worldwide estimated to be $30 million according to court documents obtained by WMV.
In a contentious legal battle that ended in 1991, the Jamaican Supreme Court ruled that Rita Marley and Marley’s children had the exclusive right to use Marley’s name, likeness, and image for commercial purposes.
House of Marley, which is the estate’s brand name, is managed by Rohan Marley, the brand officer of the estate; Cedella, CEO of the Bob Marley Group Of Companies; Stephen, and Ziggy Marley, while the other children sit on a board and share the proceeds evenly.
The Marley empire is reportedly worth $500 million according to Afrotech with the children independently making millions of dollars in various music related ventures.
