Taylor Swift is officially rolling in the Benjamins, with Forbes ranking her as the world’s number #1 highest paid musician of 2016 by a multi-million dollar landslide.
T-Money beat out all her pop-osition, raking in an incredible US$170 million between June 1, 2015 and June 1, 2016, which amounts to more than the combined earnings of Beyoncé (US$54 million), Jay-Z (US$53.5 million) and Justin Bieber (US$56 million).
And the Blank Space singer isn’t the only one who’s expanding their bank space, with defunct boyband One Direction also making it rain, scooping up a combined US$110 million to muscle in at #2 on Forbes‘ list, followed by Adele (US$80.5 million), Madonna, Garth Brooks, AC/DC (#fknstrayaaaaaa), the Rolling Stones, Tay’s ex Calvin Harris and Diddy rounding out the top 10.
The Biebs and Queen Bey only slotted in at #13 (equal with Kenny Chesney) and #17 respectively. But, as Forbes points out, both are likely to score higher next year, since the timeframe of measurement for this year’s big list only took in a third of Beyoncé’s Formation World Tour, and just the first three months of Bieber’s massive Purpose World Tour.
Still, it’s going to take a lot to topple Tay-Tay, who’s not only believed to have a new album on the way (which may or may not be taking a turn for the urban), but has just inked a deal for her very own freakin’ TV channel.
Bow down to the cash kween, and take a gander at Forbes’ list of the top 20 highest earning musicians in the world for 2016, below.
Forbes’ Highest Earning Musicians Of 2016 (In USD)
1. Taylor Swift ($170m)
2. One Direction ($110m)
3. Adele ($80.5m)
4. Madonna ($76.5m)
5. Rihanna ($75m)
6. Garth Brooks ($70m)
7. AC/DC ($67.5m)
8. Rolling Stones ($66.5m)
9. Calvin Harris ($63m)
10. Diddy ($62m)
11. Bruce Springsteen ($60.5m)
12. Paul McCartney ($56.5m)
13. Justin Bieber ($56m)
13. Kenny Chesney ($56m)
15. U2 ($55m)
15. The Weeknd ($55m)
17. Beyoncé ($54m)
18. Jay Z ($53.5m)
19. Luke Bryan ($53m)
20. Muse ($49m)
