Last week we reported that the top one percent of earning musicians bring in more than 77 percent of total recording income from the music industry. We didn't have numbers at the time to demonstrate who earned what, but Billboard has just released its list of the Top 40 highest earning musicians for 2013.
A note on the method: Billboard takes record sales, publishing royalties and touring into account for the performer's total earnings. Commercial sponsorships and merchandising numbers aren't provided by Nielsen tracking, therefore they aren't included in the final numbers. Billboard does factor things such as estimates for manager's cuts, and it also estimates earnings for streaming and other factors using standard royalty rates. Basically, none of the numbers presented here are official, as the performers don't usually just give us their earning statements. But this is as close as it's going to get.
So who won?
Taylor Swift brought home nearly $39.7 million from her music during 2013, according to Billboard's estimates. That no. 1 spot comes from solid performances across all the measurements, including touring (no. 1 overall), album sales (no. 8) and streaming royalties (no. 5). Although not factored into the already cool $40 million, Billboard estimated the average concertgoer spent $17 on merchandise as well. And that's how she affords those huge gold chains.
We listed the rest of the Top 10 below, but you can check out the whole Top 40 at Billboard.com with the link above. Keep in mind that some of the acts listed below are bands, not individuals, and the money total listed will need to be split accordingly.
02) Kenny Chesney: $32,956,240
03) Justin Timberlake: $31,463,297.03
04) Bon Jovi (the band): $29,436,801.04
05) The Rolling Stones: $26,225,121.71
06) Beyoncé: $24,429,176,86
07) Maroon 5: $22,284,754.07
08) Luke Bryan: $22,142,235.98
09) P!nk: $20,072,072.32
10) Fleetwood Mac: $19,123,101.98
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