Pop stars owned Forbes Entertainment’s Highest Paid Women list this year.
Comeback queen Britney Spears nabbed the number two spot, earning $58 million between May 2011 and May 2012. She narrowly beat out America’s sweetheart Taylor Swift, who came in third after earning $57 million in a year’s time.
Billionaire media powerhouse Oprah Winfrey out-earned both Spears and Swift, taking the number one spot on the list with an astounding $165 million in earnings.
Spears’ ‘X-Factor’ salary is a respectable $15 million but a TV show salary is usually not enough to land a star a high ranking Forbes list spot. The big bucks are in touring and most of the earnings that landed Spears on the list come from touring and album sales from last year’s ‘Femme Fatale’ album.
Swift also earned most of her millions from touring in support of her album, ‘Speak Now.’ Her singles are always top-sellers and she wrote a single for the hit film, ‘The Hunger Games.’ Spears and Swift both have fragrance deals and other non-musical income sources.
This is 22-year-old Swift’s first appearance on the list. In fact, she is the youngest person ever to make Forbes Highest Paid Women list. However, judging from the success of “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” the first single off of her upcoming album ‘Red,’ I doubt it will be her last appearance.
Another pop star, Rihanna, nabbed Forbes’ number four spot but she has to share the ranking with Ellen DeGeneres. Both celebrities pulled in $53 million last year and tied for fourth place.
Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez had to share a ranking as well. The two divas earned matching figures of $52 million, putting them in 5th place.
Supermodel Geisel Bundchen, Katy Perry and TV’s Judge Judy all raked in $45 million last year.
All in all, it was a good year for pop stars and TV stars. Glaringly missing from the list are any top film actresses. With the influx of movie stars taking on TV roles and multitasking pop stars, it seems that film is just not where the money is at anymore.
