14 DAY TRIAL // This is for all those who said during Madonna’s MDNA World Tour that her shock tactics were getting too old to sell and that she might at least consider retiring: Forbes says she is the highest paid musician for the year 2013, beating insanely successful pop stars like Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Justin Bieber to the punch.
Queen Madge for the win, indeed.
The publication has released its annual list of most successful celebrities. It’s based on figures made between June 2012 and May 2013, and it takes into account “concert ticket sales, royalties for recorded music and publishing, merchandise sales, endorsement deals and other business ventures.”
Madonna made the bulk of her money, a whopping $125 million (€92.3 million), from the aforementioned tour, but she’s also had success in other business ventures, such as her Material Girl collection, her Hard Candy line of gyms, endorsement deals, and album sales.
The MDNA Tour alone grossed $305 million (€225.2 million).
All in all, if you ever thought that it was time she toned it down and went for a less aggressive image and sound, we say: if it’s not broke, she will probably not mend it, particularly not when this is what sells so good.
Lady Gaga is runnerup but she’s at a great distance from the Queen of Pop, making “only” $80 million (€59 million) in the same timeframe. However, she’ll probably be on top next year, because she’ll hit the road to promote “ARTPOP,” her most recent album.
Bon Jovi finished third with $79 million (€58.3 million), while Toby Keith came in fourth with $65 million (€48 million) and the honorary mention of being the highest paid country music artist of the year.
Other celebrities who made killer profit in the same timeframe are exactly those you’d expect to find on the list: Justin Bieber made $58 million (€42.8 million), Taylor Swift comes close behind with $55 million (€40.6 million), Beyonce landed on the 9th position with $53 million (€39.1 million), while husband Jay Z is at 18 with $42 million (€31 million).