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20 April 2024

Robert Downey Jr. highest-earning actor; Katy Perry top-earning musician

Published
By Agencies

Katy Perry pulled in $135 million in the past year to be the world's top-grossing musician, beating out Taylor Swift who has hinted at 'bad blood' with the fellow pop singer.

Forbes magazine said that the 30-year-old Perry, who is on a 150-date world tour for her album 'Prism,' narrowly edged out One Direction for income in the year through June 1.

The British boy band, whose future and image were thrown into doubt in March when member Zayn Malik left, grossed $130 million, according to the magazine.

They were followed at $90 million by Garth Brooks, the 1990s country star who has returned to the road for a comeback album, and then Swift at $80 million.

Perry's dominance over Swift is not surprising considering that Forbes looks at earnings during the year, not total income. 

Similarly, Beyonce - who was the highest-paid among all celebrities on last year's list - slipped to number 29 as she ended a major tour in March 2014.

Swift in October released '1989,' which was the fastest-selling US album in 13 years, but she did not go on tour until May, near the end of the period analyzed by Forbes.

'1989' includes the song 'Bad Blood' in which Swift complains about a rival who hit me where I'm weak' and warns that 'time can heal, but this won't.'

Swift told Rolling Stone magazine that the song was about a rival who tried to "sabotage" her tour by poaching the people working for her, leading to wide speculation she was speaking about Perry.

While Taylor Swift ties for eighth with Robert Downey Jr. with $80 million.

Meanwhile, Swift's latest man, Calvin Harris, came in at No. 17, with $66 million.

Jay-Z, earned $58 million, coming in one spot ahead of her at No. 28.

Mayweather Rules

Floyd Mayweather topped Forbes' 'Celebrity 100: The World's Highest-Paid Superstars of 2015' with a whopping $300 million, much of which came from his May 2 brawl with Pacquiao, who came in at second with $160 million.

Forbes published the ranking Monday, which includes actors, musicians, TV personalities, sports icons and even magicians (just David Copperfield).

The highest-earning actor on the list is Robert Downey Jr. with $80 million.

In the sports world, NBA Finals contender LeBron James came in at No. 18 with $65 million. He couldn't trounce tennis star No. 16 Roger Federer, who earned $67 million, or Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, who cropped $79.5 million at No. 10.

Coming in at the bottom of the pack is comedian Kevin Hart with $28.5 million -- still an impressive bounty to end the list with.