Singer Taylor Swift earned the top spot on Forbes Magazine’s list of wealthiest musicians this year, with $185 million in earnings.
Forbes released its annual list and the world’s biggest names came out on top surging towards $200 million a year, in part thanks to sales unrelated to actual music making.
Last month, Swift won six American Music Awards to surpass Michael Jackson’s all-time record. Swift won the top award, artist of the year, and four others.
She was also given an honorary artist of the decade award, taking her all-time total to 29 American Music Awards, organizers said. That easily outstripped the 24 awards picked up by Jackson.
Kanye West came in second with $150 million in earnings but much of his proceeds derived from sales of his Yeezey sneakers, Forbes reported.
Newcomers to the list included Korean pop band BTS who ranked 15th with $57 million in earnings and 22nd-ranked Ariana Grande, who amassed $48 million.
As a whole, the 10 highest-paid musicians in the world took in just over $1 billion pre-tax, which is a bump of $114 million from 2018, the magazine also reported.
West himself made $122.5 million more this year than last, according to Forbes.
