The Material Girl is 2013's top-earning celebrity, beating Lady GaGa, Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg.
- August 27, 2013
AceShowbiz -
Anchored on the immense success of her top-grossing tour, iconic diva Madonna tops Forbes' highest-earning celebrities list, with $125 million in estimate earnings for the period from June 2012 to June 2013. The 55-year-old Material Girl bested other A-listers in the roster like filmmaker Steven Spielberg and TV personality Simon Cowell.
Despite the lackluster sales performance of her album "MDNA", the $305 million that its supporting world tour brought in was enough to boost Madonna's earnings ahead of the pack. Adding to her total are profits from merchandise and other business ventures like her fragrance and clothing line.
Spielberg took the runner-up spot, earning $25 million less than the pop diva, mainly from the box-office success of his latest film, the award-winning "Lincoln", plus the royalties he earns from his extensive library of films. Just $5 million short of his $100 million total are Cowell, "Fifty Shades of Grey" author E.L. James, and radio show host & "America's Got Talent" judge Howard Stern who are tied for the third place.
Lady GaGa, who's known for emulating the Queen of Pop, placed tenth on the list with $80 million, because of her "Born This Way Ball" tour getting cut short by her hip injury and subsequent surgery. Others who made it to the top ten are TV host Glenn Beck, director Michael Bay and novelist James Patterson, now the best-selling author of all time.
Meanwhile, Oprah Winfrey, who is Forbes' 2013 Most Powerful Celebrity, fell outside of the top ten at No. 13, due to a big pay cut and losses incurred from running her own network.
Forbes' Highest-Earning Celebrities of 2013:
