How The Beatles Earned $71 Million This Year, Sort Of

The Beatles once declared one the loneliest number. It’s safe to say that $71 million is much more enjoyable. That’s how much the group’s four principal members—including the late John Lennon and George Harrison—combined to earn over the past year.

That number, an estimate gleaned from conversations with industry veterans and data sources like Pollstar, includes individual earnings as well as cash from the ongoing sale of Beatles records and ventures like the Cirque du Soleil show Love!, which...