Top Female Musician Money Makers
 

Forbes' list of 2007's 20 highest grossing female musicians.

1. Madonna - $72 million
2. Barbra Streisand - $60 million
3. Celine Dion - $45 million
4. Shakira - $38 million
5. Beyoncé - $27 million
6. Gwen Stefani - $26 million
7. Christina Aguilera - $20 million
8. Faith Hill - $19 million
9. Dixie Chicks - $18 million
10. Mariah Carey - $13 million
11. Hilary Duff - $12 million
12. Avril Lavigne - $12 million
13. Martina McBride - $12 million
14. Britney Spears - $8 million
15. Carrie Underwood - $7 million
16. Nelly Furtado - $7 million
17. Fergie - $6 million
18. Jennifer Lopez - $6 million
19. Sheryl Crow - $6 million
20. Norah Jones - $5.5 million

Recording Industry
The Top-Earning Women In Music
Dorothy Pomerantz, 01.29.08, 6:00 AM ET

Los Angeles -
"It takes a really big man to fill my shoes," Madonna once quipped. Apparently, it also takes a really rich man to fill those formidable size eights. The 49-year-old pop superstar tops Forbes' first-ever Cash Queens of Music list of the top-earning female musicians, banking $72 million between June 2006 and June 2007.

Madonna earned much of that from her landmark Confessions tour, the highest-grossing tour for a female artist, earning $260 million worldwide. During that time-frame, Madonna also enjoyed income from record sales, her deal with hipster retailer of choice H&M and payment from NBC for rights to broadcast her concert performance at London's Wembley Stadium.

The Material Mom isn't slowing down one bit as she swings toward her 50th birthday this August. In October, the famously shrewd musician ditched Warner Music Group, her record label of 20 years, for an unprecedented 10-year deal with concert promoter Live Nation worth an estimated $120 million.

In Pictures: Forbes' Cash Queens of Music
The 20 women on Forbes' Cash Queens list earned a combined $420 million between June 2006 and June 2007. The vast majority collected hefty paychecks from sell-out tours. Barbra Streisand, who at 65 is the list's oldest member, earned the No. 2 spot with $60 million thanks to her comeback tour, her first in since she announced her retirement in 2000. Hard-to-get tickets to see Babs live fetched on average $300 apiece, the highest ticket price for any concert that year. Compare that with tickets to see the Rolling Stones live last year, which sold for $137 apiece on average.

To compile the list, Forbes examined concert grosses, merchandising revenue, album sales and additional revenue streams from ancillary businesses: clothing lines, fragrance deals and endorsements. Only "active" artists were considered--those who had released an album or film or toured during the specified period. These are gross income figures, with no deductions for taxes, management or agent fees.

Rounding out the top three is Celine Dion, 39, who banked $45 million, largely from her hugely successful A New Day concert series at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The long-running show, opened in 2003 and housed in the Coliseum Theater built specifically for the spectacle, had been seen by an estimated 3 million fans before it wrapped in December. Dion's groundbreaking deal ushered in a cadre of big-name music acts (Elton John, Bette Midler) signing exclusive contracts in Las Vegas.

Landing the No. 4 spot is Shakira, 30, the Colombian-born crossover phenom who earned $38 million. The multiple-Grammy-winning star swiveled those famously nimble hips on an astonishing 98 tour stops during the period. (She made headlines when she audited history classes at UCLA on the West Coast leg of the tour.) In November, Shakira appeared on the soundtrack for the film adaptation of Love in the Time of Cholera.

Country stars fared well on the list. Faith Hill (No. 8) earned $19 million touring with her husband, country singer Tim McGraw. The Dixie Chicks (No. 9) trailed close behind with $18 million. Martina McBride (No. 13) earned $12 million, while American Idol winner Carrie Underwood (No. 15) rode her country sound to $7 million.

Even Britney Spears snagged a spot on our list, though she toured minimally, lip-synching her way through a handful on House of Blues clubs last spring. Despite near-daily public meltdowns culminating in September's humiliating "comeback" performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, the troubled 26-year-old mother of two still managed to eek out $8 million from old hits and surprisingly strong sales of her perfume, Curious, which grossed $55.4 million in 2006.

Licensing deals buttressed the earnings of several Cash Queens, including Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Lopez, who boast their own clothing lines and have stamped their names on popular fragrances. Beyoncé is the list's endorsement darling, having bagged contracts with A-list sponsors like L'Oreal, American Express and Samsung. Hilary Duff, who at 20 is the youngest member of the Cash Queens list, presides over a tween merchandising empire--spawned from her days as Disney's Lizzie McGuire--that pocketed her $12 million.

Interestingly, the phrase "These are gross income figures, with no deductions for taxes, management or agent fees," means you can cut all of these numbers by 50% or so, which is scary to me.

Barf on everyone on that list. (Minus Madonna because she's Madonna and Gwen Stefani because she's hot. ;) )

kind of surprised to see that miley cyrus is not on the list. lord knows that girl has raked in the cash and will continue to.

that's my girl(s)!

next year. i betcha.

Wait... where the heck is Stevie in all of this?? SURELY she's made more than Britney friggin Spears and Hillary Duff for Lord's sake.. lol

It's time for another repackaging of Rumours.

I can see everyone on this list making it, EXCEPT FOR FREEKIN Shakira.
Seriously? Shakira? We can do better than that.

Can we? She's not my favorite, but she has some serious talent...not to mention a global following. More than I can say for Hanna Montana and the Duff sisters.

I think these figures are just for one year.. not for the artist's entire career. Ungodly sums of money. :wavey:



And a note about Shakira to whomever was mentioning her.... this is global. Shakira is a force to be reckoned with in the central and south americas. I think she deserves it more than a lot of others.. say, Hilary, Avril, or J-Lo. She busts her ass. (and belly.)

[QUOTE=Sarah;738992]I think these figures are just for one year.. not for the artist's entire career. Ungodly sums of money. :wavey:


There you go.. That's what I was thinking too, as I remember not too long ago some figures that were going around with Stevie's last tour intake, and it definitely was up there.. LOL- And yes.. you are SOOO right there.. definitely some ungodly sums of money there.. I still can't believe Britney, with all of her shenanigans- made the list..:rolleyes:

They make in a day what I make all year. That's what kills me. None of them walk on water and I know I put in a lot more hours.

Almost doesn't seem fair...all that money. Id be happy with a quarter of that.

And Britney...guess that's why she can do what she does. It will be a long time before she runs out of money.

And Shakira...she gave a lot of money away this year...I believe to earthquake victims...not exactly sure...so she is uber cool in my book.

Shakira is yummy.

This had me seriously cracking up... LMAOO

i was wondering why stevie wasn't on the list also.

check page one, and your question will be answered.

thank you i will check it out.

Me too. All of a sudden she's everywhere.
I was a little surprised that Pink didn't make the Top 20 - that last album's singles still get played a lot here & I think she's somewhat big in parts of Europe & Australia.

- Jake

I wouldn't know a Hillary Duff song if I heard one. :shrug:

Miley Cyrus *is* interestingly absent, considering parents are murdering one another to get their kids tickets to her shows.

Kathy, the earnings are for the year ended June 2007 only. Not lifetime earnings. A lifetime list would no doubt include Stevie.

Really? I didn't think she'd be Top 20 - even with all the album sales & writing royalties. Not that she shouldn't be.

- Jake

i will confess that as much as i wanted to cast her aside as another little teeny bopper pop act, her songs are catchy as all hell. i don't know if they've released her single where you live or not but they did a few weeks ago here -- see you again is kind of amazing for a pop song -- it's cute.

i think in terms of this list, you also have to factor in endorsements, clothing lines, perfumes and such. pink really isn't doing anything but supporting an album that was released a while ago :shrug:

oh, no doubt. she's the next britney for sure. let's just hope she keeps her clothes on and her morals in check. i feel like she's fairly grounded though. maybe she'll be one of the fortunate kids.

Well, props to her if she made that "catchy as hell" - All I remember about the original version is the "Whatsamadda babay...babay...babay" part. ;)

- Jake

I think so, adjusted for inflation of course. Stevie's career has been much longer than many on the list, even Madonna.

did you just say, "props to her?" :laugh: and i still like when i see you again. so there. pfft.

I'll drink to that one! LOL :thumbsup:

No, I did not.

I do too, but "catchy as all hell" it ain't.

- Jake