Taylor Swift has been named Forbes’ top-earning celebrity.
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Taylor Swift climbed from last year’s no. 8 ranking to become this year’s world’s highest-paid celebrity on Forbes’s Celebrity 100 list.
The singer broke all kinds of records over the past year with her 1989 World Tour and broke the Rolling Stones’ touring record in North America grossing $200 million. But Swift’s earnings over the past year doubled her $80 million take-home pay from the previous year.
Author James Patterson ranked third on the list with earnings of $95 million and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo tied with talk show host Dr. Phil in fourth place with $88 million each.
It is unlikely that Taylor Swift will ever have a partner who earns more than her, her ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris was listed number 21 on the list and her new beau Tom Hiddleston does not even feature on the list. Forbes says 40 percent of her paycheck this year came from her mobile game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.
Reality star Kim Kardashian, who is featured on the cover of the magazine, was 42nd on the list with earnings of $51m.
Swift and Harris, whose real name is Adam Wiles, took the top spot in 2015, raking in a combined $146 million.
Swift’s ascension comes as she has championed artists against digital music platforms, having called out Spotify in particular.
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Second on this year’s list is boy band One Direction, which earned $110. However, Forbes adds that Adele, with $80.5 million is the only musician on this year’s Celebrity 100 list who made more than half of their money from their music. Had they stayed together, they would have been the top-earning Celebrity 100 couple, more than doubling Beyonce and Jay Z’s $107.5 million total. The pop heartthrobs were well ahead of their female counterparts – Katy Perry ranked number 63 with $41 million, while Britney Spears just barely made the cut at number 99 with $30.5 million.
