Top 6 Highest-Earning Women in Music

So. Much. Moola.
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 6, 2015 3:02 PM CST
Top 6 Highest-Earning Women in Music
Katy Perry performs at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in September. Shortly before that, she earned a boatload of money.   (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Forbes published its list of the world's highest-paid women in music this week. And once again Sarah McLachlan is nowhere to be found despite what we assume is a lucrative ad deal with Big Tears. No, it appears the real moneymakers are popular world tours and hit singles. Oh well. Forbes calculated these top-earning musicians by looking at pretax income between June 2014 and June 2015 before management took its cut. Without further ado, here are the six highest-paid women in music:

  1. Katy Perry: Thanks to her Prismatic World Tour, which grossed more than $2 million per city over 126 shows, she brought in $135 million this year. Her deals with Covergirl, Claire's, and more certainly didn't hurt either. "I’m an entrepreneur," the singer told Forbes over the summer. "I don’t want to shy away from it. I actually want to kind of grab it by its balls.”
  2. Taylor Swift: The Lex Luthor to Perry's Superman (or maybe it's the other way around) earned $80 million this year with the start of her 1989 World Tour and chart-topping single "Wildest Dreams."
  3. Fleetwood Mac: The long-running band—which gets a spot on this list thanks to female members Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie—grossed more than $1 million per city during its 86-date On With The Show tour. “Fleetwood Mac is out there slogging it on the road,” Pollstar's chief of concert data tells Forbes. The band earned $59.5 million this year.
  4. Lady Gaga: She brought in $59 million this year through 66 concerts, deals with Versace and MAC, and her own fragrance.
  5. Beyonce: Her On The Run tour with Jay Z grossed more than $100 million over just 19 dates, which gives the couple a nightly average on par with the money-printing Rolling Stones. She earned $54.5 million this year.
  6. Britney Spears: She could have probably made her $31 million this year without leaving her hotel, as most of it came from an ongoing residency at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.
Read the whole list here. (More Katy Perry stories.)

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