In just three short weeks we will wave goodbye to an eventful 2015 and it has been a year where many musicians have been able to reap the rewards of their labor and reap some of them did. Forbes has unveiled their list of the highest paid musicians in 2015 and Katy Perry tops the list with a whopping $135, putting her just behind Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao as the highest paid celebrities on the planet. She is followed by One Direction, Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift and The Eagles to round out the top five.
Following The Eagles who managed to rake in $73.5 million on a 57-show tour, Calvin Harris with his $66 million from endorsements, records sold and DJ fees, Justin Timberlake with $63.5 million, who is more than just a musician and also was still touring in 2014 and Diddy with $60 million with a load of endorsements from around the world of drinks and his own product ventures.
There is one notably constant about those who have earned the most money on the list - they all earned a considerable amount of money from live shows. Diddy is the exception with his massive enforcement deals, but names like The Rolling Stones, Elton John and Michael Buble all still play plenty of shows and took in over $50 million over the scoring period.
The scoring period is a bit deceiving because this looks at pre-taxed (big for earnings this high, especially all over the world), between June 2014 and June 2015.
See the full list below.
1 Katy Perry $135m
2 One Direction $130m
3 Garth Brooks $90m
4 Taylor Swift $80m
5 The Eagles $73.5m
6 Calvin Harris $66m
7 Justin Timberlake $63.5m
8 Diddy $60m
9 Fleetwood Mac $59.5m
10 Lady Gaga $59m
11 The Rolling Stones $57.5m
12 Ed Sheeran $57m
13 Jay Z $56m
14 Beyoncé $54.5m
15 Elton John $53.5m
16 Toby Keith $53m
17 Paul McCartney $51.5m
18 Michael Buble $45.5m
19 Jason Aldean $43.5m
20 Luke Bryan $42.5m
21 Kenny Chesney $42m
22 Bruno Mars $40m
23 Drake $39.5m
24* Foo Fighters $38m
24* Tim McGraw $38m
25 David Guetta $37m
26 Florida Georgia Line $36.5m
27* Jimmy Buffett $36m
27* Tiesto $36m
28* Maroon 5 $33m
28* Dr. Dre $33m
