Rolling in millions - top celebrity earners of the year

(AAP)
(AAP)

Taylor Swift is the top-earning celebrity of the year to June, according to the Forbes Celebrity 100 list.

The country-pop singer made $235 million over the past year, largely thanks to her 1989 World Tour. The tour began in May 2015 and concluded in December 2015, taking $346 million in revenue, of which Swift took a cut. She also topped up her takings with sponsorship deals with Diet Coke, Keds and Apple.

Swift has more than doubled her previous best of $110 million in 2015.

Although Swift tops the celebrity rich-list, she is one of just 15 women to make the top 100. Two of them - Adele and Swift - were in the top 10.

The highest-paid celebrity couple of the year is Beyonce and Jay Z, who netted $148 million. Beyonce released her number one hit, Lemonade, and has played 19 shows in the year-to-June. Jay Z played just two shows, but co-owns streaming service Tidal, as well as several other businesses, including entertainment company Roc Nation and cognac and champagne brands.

The only other couple to make the top 100 list are model Gisele Bundchen and American football quarterback Tom Brady. Bundchen just made the list at number 99, thanks to deals with Chanel and Carolina Herrera. Brady signed a lucrative deal with NFL, as well as leading merchandise sales for 2015.

Last year's top-earning celebrity was former professional boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned $415 million, nearly double Taylor Swift's takings for the past year.

The annual Forbes Celebrity list looks at pre-tax earnings for the year June-to-June.

The Forbes Top 10

10. Rush Limbaugh - the conservative political commentator and entertainer hosts the most-listened-to talk show in America.

9. Adele - the 28-year-old UK singer made $110 million, thanks largely to the release of her new album. 3.38 million copies of the album were sold in its first week of release.

8. Lionel Messi - despite being sentenced to a 21-month suspended prison term for tax fraud, the Argentinian footballer made $112 million.

7. Howard Stern - The American television and radio personality made $117 million in the year to June, after signing a deal with Sirius XM Radio.

6. Kevin Hart - the actor, comedian, writer and producer made an average of $1.3 million at each of 100 stadium shows over the past year, taking his earnings to $121 million.

4= Dr Phil made $121.8 million, largely from his daytime talk show. Dr Phil tied with soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, who has a host of sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike and Monster headphones.

3. James Patterson - $131.5 million. The author of the Alex Cross series has sold more than 300 million copies and holds the Guiness World Record for being the first person to sell one million e-books. He writes a dozen books a year.

2. One Direction made most of their $152.3 million on their On the Road Again tour.

1. Taylor Swift - $235 million.

Quick facts - the Forbes Celebrity list

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