More celebrities are going to die in 2017 than this year and there’s nothing you can do about it

David Bowie, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Alan Rickman, Ronnie Corbett, Terry Wogan, Gene Wilder, Leonard Cohen, Andrew Sachs.

It’s been a pretty terrible year for celebrity deaths, that’s for sure. But don’t think that just because the clock strikes midnight on December 31 this shitstorm of a year is finally over, and we can go back to not pretending to like celebrities because it’s fashionable post-mortem.

No, I’m here to tell you it’s only going to get worse.

Here’s why:

Most of the famous faces were in or near their 80s

Andrew Sachs (86), Leonard Cohen (82), Gene Wilder (83), Muhammad Ali (74), Prince (57), Ronnie Corbett (85), Terry Wogan (77), Alan Rickman (69), David Bowie (69).

…which means they had most of their careers in the 60s, 70s and 80s

When the people who died this year were at their prime they were in the early ages of celebrity-dom. Even Prince, who was one of the youngest started his career in 1978.

So it’s not that a greater percentage of celebrities died in 2016…

It’s that there are more famous people to die. We’re 50 years on from the 60s, and since then celebritydom has only increased. Gene Wilder’s famous Charlie and the Chocolate Factory performance was released in 1971, and Muhammad Ali won a gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics.

And it’s probably not going to get better (sorry)

With each passing year, more celebrities will be entering their golden years (because there have been increasingly more celebrities).

So just imagine the carnage in 2070

When Justin Bieber is 76, Miley Cyrus is 74, Taylor Swift is 81, and Ryan Gosling is 90. Just saying.