Taylor Swift, American singer, has been named the highest-paid celebrity by Forbes, popular business magazine — having amassed a pretax income of $185 million over the past year.
The pop singer’s pay was reported to have grown by an estimated 131% after similarly topping Forbes’ celebrity 100 listicle of the highest-earning stars with $170 million in 2016.
With her ‘1989 World Tour’ seeing her topple other celebrities in 2016 and her successive ‘The Reputation Stadium Tour’ making her the highest-earning for 2019, Swift’s musical tours have indeed played a crucial role in her success.
According to Billboard Boxscore, Swift’s 2018 tour had surpassed her own ‘1989 World Tour’ as the highest-grossing in the U.S. and amassed a record-breaking $266.1 million domestically.
She can also be said to have ridden on the back of giants after Netflix acquired exclusive rights to her tour for a live concert special — a move which ultimately earned her an overall $345 million.
The tour spanned 36 cities, seven countries, and four continents, and saw her ride on the waves of endorsement deals that accrued from brands like Apple, AT&T and Diet Coke.
As if this wasn’t enough, Forbes estimated Swift’s record label switch for Universal Music Group’s Republic Records to be worth up to $200 million — a substantial addition to her coffers.
Other celebrities closely following her include Kylie Jenner, Kanye West, Lionel Messi, and Ed Sheran.
See top 15 below:
- Taylor Swift – $185 million
- Kylie Jenner $170 million
- Kanye West – $150 million
- Lionel Messi – $127 million
- Ed Sheeran $110 million
- Cristiano Ronaldo – $109 million
- Neymar – $105 million
- The Eagles – $100 million
- Dr. Phil McGraw – $95 million
- Canelo Alvarez – $94 million
- Roger Federer – $93.4 million
- Howard Stern – $93 million
- J.K. Rowling – $92 million
- Russell Wilson – $89.5 million
- Dwayne Johnson – $89.4 million
See the full listicle of 100 here.
