Forbes has released their list of the highest paid musicians for this year. They base all of their sales figures from May 2011 - May 2012.
Leading the pack is hip-hop producer Dr. Dre as he made $110 million dollars. The "Dr" made most of his money off his Beats headphone line. However, concert tickets continue to drive a lot of revenue for artists.
"The concert business had another solid year as both artists and concert promoters used more caution in trying to achieve their touring objectives," says Gary Bongiovanni, who is the editor of concert data Pollstar. He added that, "The good seats for major artists continue to be priced at a premium."
Country artists were not left out of the top ten earning spots. Taylor Swift landed on the list after grossing an estimated $57 million dollars. Toby Keith tied Justin Bieber for 10th place after making an estimated $55 million dollars. Toby was helped by his continuing sponsorship from Ford and all of his I Love This Bar and Grills.
The complete Top 10 is as follows...
- Dr. Dre
- Roger Waters
- Elton John
- U2
- Take That
- Taylor Swift
- Paul McCartney
- Coldplay
- Adele
- Toby Keith/Justin Bieber
