2014 was most definitely the year to bow down to Beyoncé, at least according to Forbes.
The financial magazine's website once again listed the year's "highest earning women in music" and Beyoncé didn't just win, her $115 million nearly doubled her next highest-paid competitor. Not bad, especially since her surprise self-titled album did the majority of its sales last December, but Blue Ivy's mama did play 95 shows and land endorsement deals with H&M and Pepsi. That said, she still didn't top last year's winner Madonna, who earned $125 million.
Beyoncé did top Forbes Celebrity 100 list earlier this year, but she's unlikely to catch music's actual biggest earner of 2014. Dr. Dre, pocketed $620 million thanks to Apple purchasing his Beats by Dre headphone empire, the largest single-year take-home that Forbes has ever seen.
That second highest earning woman in music was Taylor Swift, though Forbes list was released just as her album "1989" was dropping, and it sold 1.3 million copies in the first week alone which will add to the $64 million her concerts, record sales and endorsements pulled in. Last spring, Swift was named music's top money maker in Billboard magazine, which clocked her 2013 earnings at almost $40 million. (That Billboard list had Beyoncé's 2013 earnings at $24 million, though the 2013 Forbes list has Queen Bey taking in $53 million.)
Surprisingly, Pink came in at number three thanks to her heavy tour schedule.
Click through the slideshow to see how what the rest of the top ten earned, and click back to Forbes to find out how they did it.
The financial magazine's website once again listed the year's "highest earning women in music" and Beyoncé didn't just win, her $115 million nearly doubled her next highest-paid competitor. Not bad, especially since her surprise self-titled album did the majority of its sales last December, but Blue Ivy's mama did play 95 shows and land endorsement deals with H&M and Pepsi. That said, she still didn't top last year's winner Madonna, who earned $125 million.
Beyoncé did top Forbes Celebrity 100 list earlier this year, but she's unlikely to catch music's actual biggest earner of 2014. Dr. Dre, pocketed $620 million thanks to Apple purchasing his Beats by Dre headphone empire, the largest single-year take-home that Forbes has ever seen.
That second highest earning woman in music was Taylor Swift, though Forbes list was released just as her album "1989" was dropping, and it sold 1.3 million copies in the first week alone which will add to the $64 million her concerts, record sales and endorsements pulled in. Last spring, Swift was named music's top money maker in Billboard magazine, which clocked her 2013 earnings at almost $40 million. (That Billboard list had Beyoncé's 2013 earnings at $24 million, though the 2013 Forbes list has Queen Bey taking in $53 million.)
Surprisingly, Pink came in at number three thanks to her heavy tour schedule.
Click through the slideshow to see how what the rest of the top ten earned, and click back to Forbes to find out how they did it.