MJ's first anniversary today

As with Elvis Presley or the Beatles, it is impossible to calculate the full effect Mr. Jackson had on the world of music. At the height of his career, he was indisputably the biggest star in the world; he has sold more than 750 million albums. Radio stations across the country reacted to his death with marathon sessions of his songs. MTV, which grew successful in part as a result of Mr. Jackson’s groundbreaking videos, reprised its early days as a music channel by showing his biggest hits.

Michael Jackson's estate has made more than $1bn (£677m) since his death a year ago, according to estimates by trade paper Billboard.

The magazine says Jackson's album sales have generated about $383m (£259m), while revenue from the film This Is It has hit nearly $400m (£271m).

Despite the This Is It tour never getting off the ground, revenue from tickets retained by fans as souvenirs and not refunded brought in about $6.5m (£4.4m), with merchandise raking in $5m (£3.4m), although concert promoter AEG has a cut of these profits.

Jackson's music publishing company, Mijac, currently has a value of around $150m (£102m), according to Billboard.

The magazine said Mijac could have generated as much as $50m (£33.9m) in the last year.

Jackson's estate also owns half of music publishing company, Sony/ATV.

Barry Massarsky of Massarsky Consulting estimated that Jackson's share of Sony/ATV's revenue is $80m (£54.3m) a year.

Other profits have come from DVD sales and rentals, downloads, royalties and ringtones.

Jackson died on 25 June last year at the age of 50.

Courtesy: New York Times, BBC, Radio 1