Kurt Cobain is now the world's top-earning dead celebrity after beating Elvis Presley into second place.

The estate of the former Nirvana frontman, who committed suicide in 1994, brought in an estimated £26 million last year, beating The King by over £4 million, according to a study by Forbes magazine.

Elvis, who has topped the rankings for the last four years, was toppled after Cobain's wife sold a quarter of her stake in the singer's back catalogue.

Courtney Love, who claimed two years ago that over £20 million had gone missing from the trust fund set up after Cobain's death, sold the interest after claiming that managing his estate had become "overwhelming".

Love, who has a daughter Frances Bean by the star, was the sole heir to Cobain's fortune when he died aged 27 at his home from a self-inflicted gun wound.

Almost all of the money earned by Cobain's estate is thought to have come through the deal with record industry veteran Larry Mestel.

It is now thought that pieces by Cobain, who achieved global success at the forefront of the grunge movement with songs including Come As You Are and Smells Like Teen Spirit, will be re-released in a move which could see him retain a position in the top 10 next year.

Elvis had dominated the dead rich list ever since his song A Little Less Conversation was remixed before being used in an advert by Adidas in the run-up to the 2002 World Cup finals.

The figures, compiled by Forbes covering the period from October 2005 to October 2006, show he earned just over £22 million 29 years after his death at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.

Third on the list is Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts cartoon strip, who earned £18.4 million, followed by John Lennon in fourth (£12.6 million) and Albert Einstein in fifth (£10.5 million). Einstein bequeathed his estate, as well as the use of his image, to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Andy Warhol is sixth in the chart with earnings of £10 million helped by the film Factory Girl, which features Guy Pearce as the artist.

Ray Charles (£5.3 million) and Johnny Cash (£4.2 million) also make appearances in the top ten after recent biopic films of their lives.

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