Taylor Swift is one wealthy 24 year old. She took the top spot of Billboard's highest-paid musicians of 2013, raking in $39,699,576.60, which was more than enough to out-do the fellows below her, which just so happened to be second and third place finishers Kenny Chesney and Justin Timberlake who earned $32,956,240.70 and $31,463,297.03.
According to RollingStone.com:
Using data from Nielsen SoundScan and Broadcast Data Systems – which track sales and spins on TV, radio and internet, respectively – and their own Boxscore stats, Billboard calculated artists' total U.S. earnings from touring, recorded-music sales, publishing royalties and revenue from digital music and video streaming (money earned from sponsorships, merch and syncs weren't included due to a lack of data).
Swift dominated other artists in every area. Her recent Red Tour took in an estimated $30 million, while the singer notched nearly 10 million downloads and ranked fifth in streaming royalties. Meanwhile, Chesney bolstered his album earnings with $90 million from his recent No Shoes Nation tour, topping 1 million in attendance for his 10th tour in a row.
Timberlake stormed back in a big way in 2013 with his two-part album The 20/20 Experience, which generated more than $5 million in royalties from digital downloads and streaming. The album's first single "Suit & Tie," which featured Jay Z, scored the highest first-week plays in the Mainstream Top 40 chart's history, while the rapper and pop star's joint summer tour earned $60 million from just 12 shows (Timberlake grossed $43 million on his own over 39 shows).
Country star Luke Bryan pushed 2.7 million albums and 7.6 million digital tracks, and earned $15.4 million from touring to put him at number eight with $22,142,235.98.
I think all that proves is people certainly love their music. That's a crap ton of money!
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