Beyoncé has taken her rightful place as the highest paid woman in music, earning a pretaxed $105 million to push out both Adele and Taylor Swift, Forbes reports.
Both the release of Lemonade and much of the powerhouse Formation World Tour fell within the magazine’s yearlong scoring period, the latter of which grossed a quarter of a billion dollars. Undoubtedly Bey could have stacked up even more had she not taken time off to tantalize the nation with the birth of her twins, Rumi and Sir, but as you and me and Beyoncé know, there’s more to life than money, particularly when you’ve already got plenty of it.
Trailing along at a distant second came Adele with $69 million, and in third, a practically impoverished Taylor Swift, who netted just $44 million.
But Swift’s Reputation was released after the end of the scoring period, which ran from June 1, 2016 to June 1, 2017. Billboard reported today that the album sold 1.2 million copies in its first week—the fourth time Swift has pulled off such a feat. It’s worth noting that she also topped the list last year with $170 million following her 1989 World Tour, plus several endorsements, so the scales very well might tip back in 2018.
Celine Dion was fourth with $42 million, and Jenifer Lopez was fifth with $38 million. This seems just.
