Taylor Swift Leads Billboard Top 40 Money Makers In Music

Taylor Swift ranked at the top of Billboard’s Top 40 Money Makers in a list released today. Taylor came in at #1 with $35,719,000! After finishing the final leg of her Fearless tour, Taylor Swift’s amazing success in 2010 left music industry observers wondering what she could possibly offer further. And Taylor created her smash Speak Now album and accompanying tour, which jetted through Asia and Europe in addition to making its way across North America.

Billboard annouced Taylor Swift as the richest music maker of 2012!

Taylor gathered $88.5 million in the U.S. alone, and the worldwide tour netted Swift a remarkable $29.8 million. Honored as Billboard’s Woman of the Year in December, she racked up U.S. album sales of 1.8 million units last year-led by booming business for late 2010′s Speak Now, which sold 967,000 units and digital single track sales of 7.8 million. Songwriting royalties were another highly beneficial source of income, given that Swift wrote all 14 Speak Now tunes herself.

To provide a consistent snapshot of the top Money Makers’ earnings power, Billboard focused exclusively on U.S. income sources, ranking artists based upon how much each of them earned in 2011 from a variety of income streams, including touring, recorded-music sales, publishing royalties and payments from an array of digital services.

Check out the top 40 money makers in music below:

40. Linkin Park – $5,190,655
39. Kanye West – $5,363,661
38. Motley Crue – $5,376,272
37. Steely Dan – $5,389,509
36. New Kids on the Block – $5,519,805
35. Justin Bieber – $5,523,459
34. Sugarland – $5,632,406
33. Backstreet Boys – $5,712,050
32. Rush – $5,819,304
31. Foo Fighters – $6,013,257
30. Usher – $6,292,586
29. Rod Stewart – $6,388,756
28. Zac Brown Band – $6,481,564
27. Keith Urban – $6,579,695
26. Lady Antebellum – $6,676,450
25. Paul McCartney – $6,726,519
24. The Beatles – $6,743,863
23. Enrique Iglesias – $7,448,670
22. Rihanna – $7,660,833
21. Brad Paisley – $8,602,374
20. Michael Buble – $9,027,177
19. Tim McGraw – $9,335,258
18. Rascal Flatts – $9,639,270
17. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – $10,017,031
16. Britney Spears – $10,090,973
15. Toby Keith – $10,413,127
14. Katy Perry – $11,969,426
13. Elton John – $11,973,990
12. Journey – $12,313,822
11. “Glee” Cast – $12,587,771
10. Adele – $13,081,909
9. Jason Aldean – $13,409,011
8. Celine Dion – $14,261,515
7. Bon Jovi – $19,813,232
6. Sade – $16,382,809
5. Lil Wayne – $23,178,722
4. Lady Gaga – $25,353,039
3. Kenny Chesney – $29,837,103
2. U2 – $32,116,315
1. Taylor Swift – $35,719,902

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