Madonna and Lady Gaga Top 'Forbes' List of Highest-Paid Musicians

BY Alex HudsonPublished Nov 20, 2013

We often hear alarmist reports about the music industry's financial struggles, but there are still lots of artists who can rake in a pretty penny. To remind us of this, Forbes has just published a list of the music biz's biggest earners.

Many of the top spots are devoted to veteran mega-stars or current pop sensations, with Madonna topping the list at $125 million; she is followed by Laga Gaga at $80 million, whose inclusion here is particularly impressive considering that she cancelled shows due to injury. Furthermore, her album ARTPOP was released after Forbes's scoring period (which was from June 1, 2012, through to June 1, 2013).

The top-earning band is Bon Jovi at $79 million, who came in third overall. Rounding out the top five are Toby Keith and Coldplay. The list includes a lone Canadian, Justin Bieber, who came in sixth. Elsewhere on the list, Beyoncé and Jay Z proved themselves to be music's greatest power couple by coming in ninth and 18th, respectively.

See the list, which is in U.S. dollars, below.

These figures represent pre-tax income, prior to fees for agents, managers and lawyers. According to Forbes, "We looked at income from June 1, 2012, through June 1, 2013, using data sources including Pollstar, the RIAA, Nielsen SoundScan, managers, lawyers and many of the artists themselves. We took into account concert ticket sales, royalties for recorded music and publishing, merchandise sales, endorsement deals and other business ventures."

The World's Highest-Paid Musicians 2013:

1. Madonna - $125 million

2. Lady Gaga - $80 million

3. Bon Jovi - $79 million

4. Toby Keith - $65 million

5. Coldplay - $64 million

6. Justin Bieber - $58 million

7. Taylor Swift - $55 million

8. Elton John  - $54 million

9. Beyoncé - $53 million

9. Kenny Chesney - $53 million

11. Diddy - $50 million

12. Paul McCartney - $47 million

13. Calvin Harris - $46 million

14. Jennifer Lopez - $45 million

15. Roger Waters - $44 million

16. Muse - $43 million

16. Rihanna - $43 million

18. Jay Z - $42 million

18. One Direction - $42 million

20. Dr. Dre - $40 million

20. Red Hot Chili Peppers - $40 million

22. The Rolling Stones - $39 million

22. Katy Perry - $39 million

24. Tim McGraw - $33 million

25. Pink - $32 million

25. Tiësto - $32 million

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