Six feet under hasn't prevented a select group of dead celebrities from earning more than six figures, evidenced by this year's Forbes list of "top-earning dead celebrities."

Pittsburgh native Andy Warhol, who has been as high as No. 4 (2005) in six Lucky 13 appearances, is No. 13 at $6 million, on the list released today.

"The money might be drying up in Hollywood, but there's still plenty of cash being made in the graveyard," said Forbes Senior Editor Matthew Miller. "The earning power of dead celebrities is more powerful than ever."

Topping the "Lucky 13" chart is fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent ($350 million), who died in 2008. The composing duo of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II ($235 million) was next, followed by the Gloved One, Michael Jackson ($90 million), who died four months ago on June 25.

Elvis Presley, who led the gruesome list seven times since its creation in 2001, is fourth at $55 million. The complete list is available at www.forbes.com/deadcelebs.

Forbes estimates the earning power of dead celebrities by starting with gross income and adjusting for fees, taxes and, in the case of Jackson, a lot of guesswork about how much debt was carried.

"This Is It," film footage culled from Jackson's tour rehearsals before his death in June, opened today around the country. Judging by advance ticket sales, it could add heft to the estate's coffers.

All told, the Lucky 13 amassed a combined $886 million since last October. When the original Forbes list appeared around Halloween in 2001, Elvis, Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz and The Beatles' John Lennon were at the top, with Warhol at No. 7. He disappeared from 2002 until 2005, bumped back by rapper Tupac Shakur and The Beatles' George Harrison.

Since then, Warhol -- who died in 1987 at the age of 58 -- has been at No. 4 (2005), No. 6 (2006 and 2007) and last year, No. 8.

GreenLight, a Los Angeles-based firm that has managed the rights property of Andy Warhol for about three years, recently contracted the use of Warhol's image in print ads for a bank in Hong Kong.

"Over the last few years we've done a lot of things with Warhol, some involving his art, some his quotes, some with Andy's actual personal image and some a combination of those things," said David Reeder, GreenLight vice president.

"He continues to become, every day, more and more relative."

GreenLight deals with rights management for a number of dead celebrities, but Warhol is its only artist: "That's for a reason," Mr. Reeder said. "There really is no one else like him. ... Plus, he's got such an incredible stamp on pop culture."

He said GreenLight is in negotiations to incorporate Warhol into several upcoming projects, including a residential-themed hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

"We've helped them frame up what advertising might look like, everything from how the lobby would look, to the toiletries."

Mr. Reeder noted that Warhol, who got his commercial start working in advertising, "was very open and embraced commercial ventures around his work, so he's pretty fair game."

The earning power of the Warhol mystique, he said, "is still largely untapped. There's a really rich opportunity with Warhol, especially in Asia, where he continues to be amazingly popular.

Closer to home, the Warhol museum owns the copyright for all film and video projects by the artist.

"The copyright for Andy Warhol artwork is held by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in New York," explained Thomas Sokolowksi, director of the Warhol museum on the North Side.

Which means that if Pittsburgh's Warhol museum wants to reproduce his work on, say, invitations to special events, it must pay copyright fees to the foundation.

Everything from sales of $4 magnets and $200 prints in the museum gift shop and online to ticket sales of events goes toward Forbes' estimate of Warhol's worth of $6 million. Add in fees every time a Warhol work is licensed for reprint, or used to sell jeans or snowboards, and it all adds up.

Given the competition from other dead celebs, it's getting tougher to make the Lucky 13. Dropped from the list this year? James Dean, Marvin Gaye, Heath Ledger, Steve McQueen and one of the most consistent performers, Marilyn Monroe.

Mr. Sokolowski mused that some of the world's greatest artists really missed the boat on rights management.

"When Michelangelo did 'David,' he got paid once. Of course, he knew nothing of photography, but if he'd ever considered how many postcards of that damn statue have been sold ... "

Doug Oster writes a blog, "Growing With Doug," exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.