It’s official: according to Forbes, Taylor Swift is the highest-grossing celebrity in the world, raking in $170 million over the past year on the strength of her 2014 album 1989 and subsequent tour — not to mention lucrative deals with Coke, Apple, and Keds.
The number surpasses last year’s top-earning musician, Katy Perry, who earned $135 million, and more than doubles Swift’s intake in 2015 — a paltry $80 million — although it doesn’t come close to last year’s overall highest earner, Floyd Mayweather, whose “fight of the century” vs. Manny Pacquiao left him $300 million richer.
It may come as a surprise that despite the seismic release of her visual album, Lemonade, in April, Beyoncé earned just $54 million last year. But touring is what makes the big bucks these days, and on that front Queen Bey could not compete with Swift’s months-long 1989 World Tour, which brought in $200 million in North American alone, breaking a record previously held by the Rolling Stones.