The Enduring Legacy of the "King of Pop" Michael Jackson: Earning 5 Trillion Won Seventeen Years After His Death

"Thriller" Returns to Billboard Top 5, 40 Years After Release
Biopic Success Drives 146% Surge in U.S. Streaming
Posthumous Revenue Reaches $3.5 Billion, Sony Acquires Half of Rights
Music IP Scaling Up Through Songs, Films, and Copyrights

Michael Jackson, who passed away in 2009, is once again shaking up global charts and the box office. Despite no new songs or live performances, the value of his music, albums, and copyrights has soared simultaneously thanks to a single film. There is growing sentiment that the "King of Pop" has evolved beyond being a star of nostalgia, becoming a mega-scale intellectual property (IP) that generates revenue even after his death.

According to Billboard in the United States on May 12, Jackson's 1982 album "Thriller" and his 2003 greatest hits album "Number Ones" ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, on this week's main album chart, the "Billboard 200." It is extremely rare in the history of global music for two albums from an artist who passed away 17 years ago to enter the Top 10 simultaneously.

With this, Jackson has become the only solo artist to land Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 across six decades, from the 1970s through the 2020s. This demonstrates that, beyond simple nostalgia, Millennials & Gen Z are consuming Jackson's music on streaming platforms as if it were new content.

The catalyst was the biographical film "Michael," which was released in North America on April 24. According to AP, the film grossed $97 million (about 143.5 billion won) in North America and $120.4 million (about 178.1 billion won) overseas during its opening weekend, earning a total of $217.4 million (about 321.6 billion won) worldwide. This marks the highest opening in the history of music biopics, surpassing "Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018).

Following the film's success, the weekly streaming count for Jackson's solo songs in the U.S. surged 146% from the previous week to 137.5 million. The sales of the "Thriller" album also increased by 425%, re-entering the Billboard charts, and signature tracks such as "Billie Jean" returned to the Hot 100 rankings.

Jackson had always viewed music not merely as a consumable, but as a "rights industry." In 1985, he acquired the ATV music publishing rights, including songs by The Beatles, for $47.5 million. At the time, it was considered an excessively expensive investment, but as time went on, the value of music copyrights skyrocketed.

In fact, in 2016, the Jackson estate sold its stake in Sony/ATV for $750 million, and in 2024, Sony Music acquired a 50% stake in Jackson’s recordings and publishing rights for at least $600 million (88.78 billion won). This deal valued the entire catalog at over $1.2 billion. Forbes estimated that the cumulative earnings generated by the Jackson estate after his death amount to approximately $3.5 billion (5.1789 trillion won).

The business of posthumous stardom now goes far beyond producing tribute albums. Not only music, but also Jackson’s face, voice, dance moves, and costumes have all become new content assets. Jeff Jampol, CEO of music legacy management firm JAM Inc, told The Guardian, "This is not the music business—it's the pop cultural heritage business," adding, "The moment you think of it as a music issue, you've already failed."

Of course, Jackson’s name is inevitably accompanied by the shadow of child sexual abuse allegations during his lifetime. The film "Michael" has also faced criticism for not directly addressing the controversies since the 1990s, as the estate was involved in its production. While some local critics have dismissed it as "half a film," audience demand has nonetheless exploded. Fans are consuming the star in the ways they wish to remember, and the market is commodifying those memories.

However, not every posthumous IP succeeds. For example, following Prince’s death in 2016 without a will, a prolonged inheritance dispute severely undermined the value of his IP. In contrast, the Whitney Houston estate, in partnership with Primary Wave, launched a "Symphonic Tour" using artificial intelligence (AI)–based vocal restoration technology. This marks an era in which a late artist can once again take the stage and generate revenue through AI technology.

Udo Owoneware, an attorney at Bray & Krais, wrote in a column about the Michael Jackson estate's catalog sale dispute, "IP can provide long-term revenue for the artist’s heirs even after death, but the scale is difficult to predict." Bill Zysblat, co-founder of legacy management firm RZO, also emphasized, "The most important thing is to maintain the dignity of the music and the legacy," adding, "If fans see the artist doing something in death that they never would have done in life, you will ultimately lose the superfans."