Madonna Beats Lady Gaga To Highest Paid Musician Title

One Direction, Katy Perry and Rihanna also feature on the Forbes countdown

Published 20th Nov 2013

Madonna has beaten Lady Gaga to the summit of Forbes Magazine’s annual 25 Highest Paid Musicians countdown.

Showing no signs of winding down with age, it’s estimated that 55-year-old pop veteran Madonna earned a whopping $125million (£77million) from June 2012 to June 2013.

Forbes cites MDNA world tour ticket sales together with money earned from merchandise and her own brand of perfume as the main contributors to her impressive tally.

Gaga notched up her 12-month fortune of $80million mostly through her Born This Way Ball world tour.

Had Mother Monster not been forced to cancel some dates due to a hip injury, then her earnings would have been even higher.

Rock icon Bon Jovi is in third with $79million (£49million) ahead of Toby Keith ($65million/£40.3million) and Coldplay $64million (£39.7million).

Only living artists appear on Forbes’ list which factors in pre-tax income from concert and record sales, endorsement deals, external business ventures and more.

See the 25 Highest-Paid Musicians of 2013 right here!