Katy Perry Tops Taylor Swift, Beyonce On Forbes Highest Earning Female Musicians List

What a time to be Katy Perry. Forbes revealed its list of the highest paid female musicians in the world and Katy Perry topped her rival Taylor Swift by a whopping margin of $55 million during the scoring period, raking in a total of $135 million. She also beat out a top five of Fleetwood Mac with $59.5 million, Lady Gaga, who slides in just behind Mac at $59 million, while Beyoncé rounds out the top five with $54.5 million.

Katy Perry tops the list on the back of her Prismatic World Tour, which grossed nearly $2 million per stop over the 126 cities she visited. She adds more to that total with her endorsement deals with Coty, Claire's and Cover Girl.

In a feature earlier this year with Forbes, she spoke about her earnings. "I am proud of my position as a boss, as a person that runs my own company," she said. "I'm an entrepreneur. ... I don't want to shy away from it. I actually want to kind of grab it by its balls."

Swift slides in a somewhat distant second with her very strong album and single sales from 1989. Her 1989 Tour has been grossing nearly $4 million per city, which Forbes estimates will put her in the top spot for next year. She also has endorsement deals with companies like Coca Cola.

The return of Christine McVie has galvanized the Fleetwood Mac fan base into buying $300 tickets for their 86-date On With The Show tour that has landed them on this list. Beyoncé and Lady Gaga continued to tour during the scoring period and both have lucrative endorsement deals that add to their hefty bank accounts.

See the top 10 below and acts like Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Miley Cyrus, Carrie Underwood and Kylie Minogue were all close to cracking the top ten.

1. Katy Petty - $135 million
2. Taylor Swift - $80 million
3. Fleetwood Mac - $59.5 million
4. Lady Gaga - $59 million
5. Beyoncé - 54.5 million
6. Britney Spears - $31 million
7. Jennifer Lopez - $28.5 million
8. Miranda Lambert - $28.5 million
9. Mariah Carey - $27 million
10. Rihanna - $26 million

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Katy Perry, Taylor Swift