A king of grunge has dethroned the king of rock and roll to become number one on Forbes.com's list of top-earning dead celebrities.

The Forbes list, published Tuesday, said the estate of grunge rocker and Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain earned US$50 million between October 2005 and October 2006.

Elvis Presley's estate wound up in second with US$42 million earned over the same period, down from last year's US$45 million.

Cobain's debut on the list, in its sixth year of publication, was no doubt boosted by his rock star widow Courtney Love's sale of 25 per cent of the Nirvana song catalogue last year to Primary wave, a New York publishing company.

"Primary Wave, which paid a reported $50 million for its stake, has already struck a deal to feature Nirvana music in an episode of CSI: Miami," Forbes.com says.

Nirvana's recording catalog, meanwhile, sold 1.1 million units in the U.S. in 2005 and is on track to come close to that total this year as well, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Forbes says Presley's estate, managed by Robert Sillerman's CKX, took a slight downturn because there were fewer projects in 2006. But die-hard fans continue to buy the King's music, including another boxed-set of his big hits. Business will likely pick up, says Forbes, "if CKX is able to pull off the Elvis-themed Las Vegas attraction it has in the works."

Celebrity estates continue to make money by signing deals involving their work, and the rights to use their name and likeness on merchandise and marketing campaigns.

After Presley came the father of "Peanuts" comic series Charles M. Schulz (US$35 million), Beatle John Lennon (US$24 million) and genius physicist Albert Einstein (US$20 million), who rounded out the top five on the list of 13.

Einstein's estate profited from licensing deals from the hugely-popular "Baby Einstein" educational DVDs.

In a Forbes on-line poll asking which living celebrity will earn the most from their estate once they reach the great beyond, director George Lucas and another ex-Beatle, Paul McCartney, had 19 per cent of votes each as of Oct. 25.

The list (figures in U.S. dollars)

• 1. Kurt Cobain $50 million
• 2. Elvis Presley $42 million
• 3. Charles M. Schulz $35 million
• 4. John Lennon $24 million
• 5. Albert Einstein $20 million
• 6. Andy Warhol $19 million
• 7. Theodore Geisel(Dr. Seuss) $10 million
• 8. Ray Charles $10 million
• 9. Marilyn Monroe $8 million
• 10. Johnny Cash $8 million
• 11. J.R.R. Tolkien $7 million
• 12. George Harrison $7 million
• 13. Bob Marley $7 million

Forbes.com bases its dollar amounts on licensing deals for using the deceased celebrities' work or image in advertising or elsewhere.