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12/22/2024 08:34:06 pm

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Taylor Swift is Top Money Making Musician in 2015

Taylor Swift

(Photo : Getty Images) Taylor Swift racked seven nominations at the 2016 Grammys

The year 2015 did not just bless Taylor Swift with the continued success of her smash album 1989, it also made her the highest-earning musician for the year, Billboard magazine reports.  

Billboard computed the earnings made by musicians for the year 2015 based on the total amount of money they earned from sales, streaming, publishing and touring.

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According to, the country-turned-pop music singer raked a whopping $73.5 million in revenue. About $61.7 million of that came from the 1989 World Tour. That's more than half of what she earned for the year! She earned $7.2 million from album sales, over half a million from streaming, and $4.1 million from publishing.

Rounding up on the top five are: Kenny Chesney ($38.1 million), The Rolling Stones ($39.6 million), Billy Joel ($31.7 million) and One Direction ($24.2 million).

Kenny Chesney, who released her fifteenth studio album The Big Revival in 2014 and embarked on The Big Revival Tour last year, earning her $38.1 million last year.

Third on the list is The Rolling Stones who pocketed $37.3 million, thanks to the success of their tour, the first time since 2007.

On the fourth spot is Billy Joel who made $31.7 million, thanks to his 29 live shows, including his monthly Madison Square Garden residency.

Rounding up the top 5 is boy group One Direction who, without Zayn Malik, still managed to earn $24.2 million thanks to the success of the U.S. leg of its On the Road Again Tour.

Adele, who landed at number 9, is the musician with the highest earnings derived from recording. Of her $20.5 million revenue, $16 million was drawn from record sales. How much did she earn from her tours? None. She make it up this year, though.

Making it to number 10 is singing band Maroon 5, who earned $19.2 million.

Here's the complete list of top 40 money makers for 2015. 

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