Taylor Swift has been named by Forbes magazine as the world's top-earning celebrity for 2016. In this year's list, the "Shake it Off" singer was able to beat other high-profile artists including Adele, Madonna and Rihanna.
According to Forbes, the pop star was able to rise to the top of the 2016 Forbes Celebrity 100 list due to the success of her fifth studio album, 1989, and its promotional world tour. As noted by the site, through the album, Swift was able to earn about $170 million from June 2015 to June 2016.
Taylor Swift is the world's top-earning celebrity, pulling in $170M in 2016: https://t.co/YrXBwtyaRF #Celeb100 pic.twitter.com/IonDlrm0D2
— Forbes (@Forbes) July 11, 2016
The 1989 World Tour, on the other hand, grossed around $200 million. Aside from the album and the tour, being an endorser for various big brands such as Keds, Diet Coke and Apple also helped in bumping up her earnings for the past year.
Her ranking in this year's list puts her way above Katy Perry, who was hailed as the top-earning musician of 2015. Last year, the "Roar" singer raked in a total of $135 million while Swift only had $80 million. Like Swift, Perry's success was also attributed to her album sales, tours and hit songs. For this year, Swift not only managed to double her 2015 earnings but she was also able to surpass Perry's income.
As for Perry, she fell at the No. 63 spot with her income of $41 million. Although she was the top-earner in 2015 thanks to her hits and record sales, she wasn't able to focus on her music this year because she has been busy campaigning for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presumptive nominee, according to USA Today.
Trailing behind Swift at the No. 2 spot in this year's list is the band One Direction, which earned around $110 million. LeBron James, who just came from winning the 2016 NBA Championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers took the list's No. 11 spot with $77 million while Madonna was placed at No. 12.
