Jenni Rivera Tops Forbes 2013 List As Top Earning Dead Latina Celebrity

Jenni Rivera tops Forbes 2013 list of "Top Earning Dead Celebrities" when you factor Latino stars only. The singer died in a plane crash on December 9, 2012 after a concert in Monterrey, México at the age of 43. Rivera had an estimatad $7 million of earnings this year as sales of her records soared to 880,000, close to the number of albums she sold throughout her career. Adding to her postmortem earnings are the mun2 reality show "I Love Jenni," which chronicled the life and day-to-day of the Regional Mexican singer. This year the audience was bossted to 5.5 million as footage of her last hours of life where shown and the effects her death had on her family. To round up the figures, her autobipgraphy "Unbreakable: My Story, My Way" was released in July and has sold over 400,000 copies.

The top earner for 2013 is the undisputed King of Pop, Michael Jackson, who had an estimated earnings of $160 million, more than Madonna ($125 million) who topped the Celebrity 100 list this year. Jackson's earnings from various Cirque du Soleil shows that license his music and image like "One," which is playing in Vegas that shows the pop star in a hologram performing "Man in the Mirror." Elvis Presley is in second position earning $55 million with his image still holding steady in people's minds. Cartoonist, Charles M. Schulz earned an estimated $37 million from the Peanuts comic-strip, that landed him in third place. The fourth spot went to Elizabeth Taylor, who died in 2011 after heart failure. For 2011, Taylor earned $25 million from her fragance White Diamonds. The actress tumbled from first place when she earned $185 million after the star's jewelry and art were auctioned off.

Dead celebrities not only keep earning money after they are long gone, they create opportunities to the living that are left behind. In the case of Jenni Rivera, her daughter Chiquis has capitalized on this to pave her way into stardom and she will soon be playing her mother in a biopic. She told Univision that the family is giving her full support to play the music diva that will focus on Jenni at the peak of her career. Marin Rivera has already been taking vocal and acting lessons for months in preparations as she wants to follow-in her mother's footsteps and perform at "palenques." This project is one of many that are being produced around the life of Jenni, with another television series by Estrella TV in the works. The 10 part series was to feature Itati Cantoral as Rivera, but was ultimately let go from the project due to an alleged alcohol problem and diva antics on set.