We're only halfway through 2016 and, sadly, we've already said goodbye to some of the world's biggest stars.
So far this year we've lost rockers, movie stars, TV veterans, magicians, comedians, dignitaries, and sporting heroes.
And it's prompted people to ask whether 2016 is the worst year ever for celebrity deaths.
The BBC has already lengthened its 'obituaries' show for the end of the year from 30 minutes to one hour after the number of deaths it covered jumped from five in the first four months of 2012 to 24 in the same period.
The BBC's obituaries editor, Nick Serpell, said the number of significant deaths this year has been "phenomenal" but he attributes this to the rise of television and the baby boom generation after the Second World War.
"People who started becoming famous in the 1960s are now entering their 70s and are starting to die," he said. "There are also more famous people than there used to be."
"In my father or grandfather's generation, the only famous people really were from cinema - there was no television. Then, if anybody wasn't on TV, they weren't famous."
He also points out many of those now dying belonged to the so-called baby-boom generation, born between 1946 and 1964, that saw a huge growth in population. In the UK alone, people aged 65 or older make up almost 18% of the population - a 47% increase on forty years ago.
Although these famous figures have died, their legacies will live on and continue to inspire and delight us.
