Pop diva Katy Perry tops Forbes’ list of highest-earning women in music in the last year, beating out Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.
Forbes has named Katy Perry as 2018’s highest-paid woman in music. The business magazine estimates that Perry, 34, earned US$83m in the period spanning June 2017 to June 2018.
Perry beat out Taylor Swift (who netted US$80 million) and Beyoncé (US$60 million), according to pretax earnings sourced from Nielsen, insider interviews and the magazine’s own estimates.
Despite her Witness album only selling around 840,000 copies worldwide in comparison to Taylor Swift’s Reputation, which has sold 4.5 million copies, much of Perry’s earnings have come from her 80-date Witness tour, which grossed over US$1m per night. She also served as a judge on American Idol, reportedly earning over US$20m for the gig.
The top 10 list (in US$)
1. Katy Perry ($83m)
2. Taylor Swift ($80m)
3. Beyoncé ($60m)
4. Pink ($52m)
5. Lady Gaga ($50m)
6. Jennifer Lopez ($47m)
7. Rihanna ($37.5m)
8. Helene Fischer ($32m)
9. Celine Dion ($31m)
10. Britney Spears ($30m)
The one surprise in the top 10 is Russian-German star Helene Fischer, in eighth place. Fischer, 34, is a singer in the schlager style, a sentimental German pop tradition that shares themes with country music.
Her self-titled eighth album debuted at No 1 in the Austrian, German and Swiss albums charts in May 2017. It has been certified nine times platinum in Germany and Austria, where it has sold more than 1m copies. Forbes states that her appearance on the list, with earnings of US$32m is largely due to a successful tour that brings in “seven figures per stop”.
