Festive fortunes: people who made millions from Christmas

It's the most lucrative time of the year... for some

While most of us part with some serious cash at yuletide, a select group of people sit back and watch the money roll in. Every December, we listen to Christmas songs, watch Christmas movies, and fill our homes with presents – but did you ever think about the people profiting from all the money we spend? Over the years, the festive season has made a few lucky singers, movie stars, authors, and entrepreneurs some serious cash and even kick-started lucrative careers. 

Read on to discover the people who made a fortune from the festive season from the 1930s right up to today.

All dollar amounts in US dollars.

Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie

In late 1933, New York-based composer Fred Coots teamed up with lyricist Haven Gillespie to write Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, and the rest is history. It was initially meant to be a kids' song, but after singer Tom Stacks recorded it in October 1934, it became the hit Christmas tune of that year, popular with kids and adults alike.

The song, written when sheet music sales were more prominent than record sales, sold 400,000 copies of sheet music by Christmas.

Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie

Over the years, the song has been covered by over 200 artists – including Frank Sinatra, Elvis, The Jackson 5 and Mariah Carey – and is played on the radio worldwide every Christmas.

Coots and Gillespie are believed to have made enormous sums of money from the song, and their estates still benefit to this day. The website Celebrity Net Worth estimates that the Christmas track has earned upwards of $50 million (£38.8m).

Irving Berlin

Any guesses for the world's bestselling Christmas single? The answer may surprise you: it is in fact White Christmas, the festive ballad written by Irving Berlin back in 1940.

Berlin, who wrote the scores for 20 Broadway musicals and penned a massive 1,500 songs throughout his career, is regarded as one of America's most iconic songwriters. His Christmas classic has sold more than 150 million copies in total.

Irving Berlin

The song was popularised by Bing Crosby (pictured), who released his version on Christmas Eve in 1941, although it wasn't until the following year that it gained chart-topping status when two million copies of the record sold. In total, the Bing Crosby version has sold more than 50 million copies.

Berlin was worth tens of millions of dollars when he died in 1989. In 2023, Celebrity Net Worth estimated that White Christmas had earned around $65 million (£50m) since its release.

Mel Tormé

A jazz crooner and musician of the old school, Mel Tormé (pictured) set himself up for life when he wrote the music and part of the lyrics for The Christmas Song (also known as Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) back in 1945.

But the song wasn't actually written at Christmas. According to Mel Tormé's son James, speaking in an interview with US radio network NPR, Tormé wrote the lyrics on a scorching hot summer day, hoping the wintry words would help him cool down.

Mel Tormé

Tormé, who died in 1999, received the bulk of the royalties from The Christmas Song, which was made popular by Nat King Cole (pictured here with daughter Natalie Cole), although countless other artists have also recorded the track.

In 2023, Celebrity Net Worth estimated the song had earned around $45 million (£35m).

Johnny Marks

Many of the time-honoured Christmas classics we enjoy today were actually written by one man: New York-born songwriter Johnny Marks.

The hitmaker penned Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, A Holly Jolly Christmas, and more.

Johnny Marks

By the early 1980s, Marks' company, fittingly named St. Nicholas Music Inc., was raking in millions of dollars in royalties. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer alone was reportedly earning him around $600,000 a year in 1980, which is around $2.3 million (£1.8m) in today's money, and Marks was a very wealthy individual when he died in 1985.

His estate renewed its contract with The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 2016, meaning it can continue to earn money from the Christmas classics.

Noddy Holder and Jim Lea

English rock band Slade's cheesy but incredibly catchy Merry Xmas Everybody had all the ingredients for a festive hit. So when it was released at the end of 1973, it whizzed to the top of the charts, becoming the UK's fastest-selling single at the time.

Since then, it's travelled the world, and a 2009 survey by PRS for Music (a British music copyright organisation) found that potentially 42% of the world's population had heard it at some point.

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Noddy Holder and Jim Lea

Needless to say, Merry Xmas Everybody has made its writers very rich indeed. In 2022, British newspaper The Independent reported that Slade frontman Noddy Holder (pictured) and bassist Jim Lea earned around £1 million ($1.3m) in royalties annually. 

Holder, who screeches the iconic line "It's Chriiiiistmaaaas!" in the song, joked in an interview with the BBC that it was "definitely a pension plan".

George Michael

George Michael's tragic death on Christmas Day 2016 was poignant given the success of his former band Wham!'s classic song Last Christmas, which was a major international hit during the 1984 festive season.

However, that year, it just missed the Christmas number one spot in the UK, losing out to Band Aid's charity single Do They Know It's Christmas.

George Michael

Written by Michael, the song has sold more than three million copies since it was released and is estimated to generate annual royalties equivalent to $745,000 (£580k) in today's money. Michael was taken to court by Barry Manilow, who accused him of plagiarising his song Can't Smile Without You, although the case was thrown out as the chord sequence used in the song is common in pop music.

In 2023, Last Christmas finally landed the number one spot in the UK Christmas chart. In an example of his well-documented generosity, while he was still alive, Michael decided to donate the royalties from his festive hit to Ethiopian famine relief.

Shane MacGowan and Jem Finer

Released in November 1987, Fairytale of New York isn't your typical Christmas hit. It tells the story of a pair of lovers exchanging memories of Christmases gone by before descending into a lover's argument and exchanging crude insults.

That didn't stop people buying the single in droves though, and it's been voted the best Christmas song of all time in various polls in the UK and Ireland.

Shane MacGowan and Jem Finer

Since the late 1980s, the controversial track has become an enduring Christmas classic. Songwriters Shane MacGowan (pictured), who died in November 2023, and bandmate Jem Finer certainly hit the jackpot. According to an estimate by British newspaper The Independent, the song is thought to generate at least $515,000 (£400k) in royalties each year.

MacGowan's net worth at the time of his death was reportedly $5 million (£3.9m), down from an estimated $25 million (£19.4m) at the peak of his fortune.

Macaulay Culkin

Nothing says Christmas quite like the iconic 1990 hit movie Home Alone. As well as grossing an enormous $480 million worldwide, equivalent to $1.2 billion (£930m) in today's money, the movie was the big break for lead actor Macaulay Culkin. 

The child actor went on to star in movies including My Girl (1991), The Good Son (1993) and The Nutcracker (1993).

Macaulay Culkin

Though Culkin was paid a relatively modest $100,000 for the first Home Alone movie – the equivalent of around $240,000 (£185k) today – the movie's success allowed his agent to up the young star's fees to stratospheric levels. In 2024 money, Culkin bagged the equivalent of over $2 million (£1.6m) for My Girl, $9 million (£7m) for Home Alone 2: Lost in New York in 1992, and $15 million (£11.7m) for 1994's Getting Even with Dad.

Today, Culkin has an estimated net worth of $25 million (£19m). 

Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff

Mariah Carey was hardly poor when she penned All I Want for Christmas Is You in 1994, along with songwriting partner Walter Afanasieff. But the catchy track, which quickly became a classic, has added a significant sum of money to the diva's personal fortune.

Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff

The lead single on Carey's 1994 holiday album Merry Christmas, the track has sold over 16 million copies worldwide. The hit song has been widely covered and remains ever-present in Christmas ads.

According to calculations by newspaper The Economist in 2022, the track earned at least $60 million (£46m) in royalties between its 1994 release and 2017. Today, Carey is estimated to bank around $2 million (£1.6m) annually from the festive hit.

Tony Mortimer

In the 1990s, the charts were dominated by boy bands and girl groups, so it's only natural these pop stars released a few Christmas hits between them. London boyband East 17 scored the coveted UK Christmas number one single in 1994 with their hit track Stay Another Day, and the song topped the charts in six other countries worldwide, selling over 910,000 copies.

But the real winner was band member Tony Mortimer (pictured), who co-wrote the song...

Tony Mortimer

Netting a tidy income for the rest of his life, co-writer Mortimer picks up most of the royalties, estimated to amount to £97,000 a year in 2016. In today's money, that works out at a staggering $166,000 ($129k) annually.

Despite not being written with a Christmas release in mind, Stay Another Day features heavily on festive radio playlists and Christmas compilations to this day.

Tim Allen

Comedy actor Tim Allen was already earning good money from his role in the sitcom Home Improvement and burgeoning film career when he starred in his first Christmas movie, The Santa Clause, back in 1994.

The comedy movie, directed by John Pasquin, is about a man who causes Santa Claus to fall from his roof on Christmas Eve and then attempts to replace him. The Santa Clause grossed $190 million worldwide, equivalent to around $400 million (£310m) in today's money.

Tim Allen

Despite his early career success, Allen's real fortune arrived on the back of The Santa Clause and his other holiday movies, which include The Santa Clause 2, the 2004 comedy Christmas with the Cranks, and Toy Story – Allen voices Buzz Lightyear in the movie franchise.

His net worth is reportedly around $100 million (£77m).

Jim Carrey

Actor Jim Carrey was well-off before he released any Christmas movies, but they’ve certainly contributed significantly to his estimated $180 million (£140m) fortune.

Released in 2000, How the Grinch Stole Christmas didn’t wow the critics – with a New York Times review branding it "shrill, overstuffed, spiritless" – but it performed well at the box office…

Jim Carrey

In fact, the movie grossed $350 million worldwide, the equivalent of $640 million (£495m) today, making it one of Carrey’s most commercially successful movies. Another festive blockbuster came in the form of Robert Zemeckis' motion-capture animation version of A Christmas Carol (2009), which grossed $325 million internationally – the equivalent of $477 million (£370m) today.

Needless to say, Carrey’s done well out of Christmas.

Ty Warner

The quintessential Christmas stocking gift of the 1990s and early 2000s, it may come as little surprise that Beanie Babies made company founder Ty Warner very rich.

Launched in 1993 in the US, the toys became ifamous across the world throughout the 1990s, with Limited Edition Christmas Beanie Babies proving particularly popular during the holidays.

Ty Warner

By releasing each type of Beanie Baby for a limited time, some rarer types became incredibly sought after and collectors were willing to pay huge sums to get their hands on one.

At the height of the craze, Warner's Ty Inc. company reported profits of $700 million a year, the equivalent of over $1 billion (£777m) in today’s money. The entrepreneur is now worth an eye-watering $7.4 billion (£5.6bn), according to Forbes. 

Will Ferrell

Will Ferrell's role as the loveable man-child Buddy in the film Elf was central to making it one of the most popular Christmas movies of all time.

The comedian had no shortage of cash when he took on the title role, but the 2003 Christmas film, which turned out to be a massive box office hit, made him ridiculously rich.

Will Ferrell

Following his star turn in the film, Ferrell shot to the top of the Hollywood high earners' league, commanding fees of around $20 million (£15m) a movie. The comic had become so wealthy that he was rich enough to turn down a $29 million offer to appear in an Elf sequel in 2006, the equivalent of $45 million (£35m) in today’s money, as he didn’t want to be "Buddy the middle-aged elf".

But Ferrell hasn't turned his back on Christmas movies completely. In 2022, a festive film with fellow actor Ryan Reynolds was released. A reimagining of A Christmas Carol, the movie Spirited is rumoured to be one of the most expensive Christmas films ever made, with a budget of $75 million (£58m) for 'talent' alone. Today, Ferrell has an estimated net worth of $160 million (£124m). 

Carol Aebersold, Chanda Bell and Christa Pitts

Elf on the Shelf began life as a picture book in 2005, but has since become a major festive phenomenon, even featuring in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (pictured). The book, which comes in a keepsake box with a small elf toy, has sold more than 11 million copies in the US.

It describes how Santa Claus sends scout elves to stay with children from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, deciding whether they're naughty or nice before returning to the North Pole to report back to Santa. And it's certainly secured its creators a nice nest egg... 

Carol Aebersold, Chanda Bell and Christa Pitts

Carol Aebersold and her daughter Chanda Bell (pictured) wrote the book based on a family tradition. Speaking to CNN Business, Bell said that "none of us ever thought it would become this phenomenon" when they sent the rhyming story to the publishers. Amazingly, publishers rejected the book, so Carol and Chanda, along with sister Christa Pitts (pictured), decided to self-publish it.

It proved such a success that the family launched its own publishing firm: CCA&B. Today, Co-CEOs Bell and Pitts are estimated to be worth $50 million (£39m). Meanwhile, CCA&B rebranded as The Lumistella Company in 2020, and in 2021, Forbes estimated it was generating annual revenues of $100 million (£77m).

Idina Menzel

Featuring songs such as Do You Want to Build a Snowman? and the iconic Let It Go, the movie Frozen became an instant sensation, grossing a massive $1.28 billion ($1.7bn/£1.3bn today) worldwide at the box office. The sequel, Frozen 2, became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, making $1.33 billion ($1.6bn/£1.2bn today) at the global box office.

The movies, released in 2013 and 2019 respectively, both feature the voice of Idina Menzel as lead character Elsa. Menzel had previously starred in Broadway musicals including Rent and Wicked.

Idina Menzel

And the actress clearly has the hugely successful Frozen movies to thank for a large chunk of her estimated $16 million (£12.4m) net worth.

With Frozen 3 in the pipeline, the franchise looks set to become Menzel's festive gift that keeps on giving.

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Updated by Matt Bradfield