Why Celine Dion Earns More Than Taylor Swift And Beyoncé
Celine Dion remains strong moneywise in the music industry, despite competition from younger artists like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. The Forbes list of the richest self-made women puts Celine at number 37. Beyoncé is number 56, while Taylor Swift is number 60. Celine Dion even beats Barbra Streisand who is currently number 38 in the new Forbes listing which has only been generated twice.
According to Huffington Post Canada, there are a number of factors that account for Celine Dion’s hegemony, one of which is the “My Heart Will Go On” singer’s Las Vegas residency. The source explains as follows.
“Forbes attributed Dion’s wealth to a number of contributors, such as her Las Vegas residency, which has netted her as much as $260 million. She is set to deliver her 1,000th Vegas show by the end of the year. It also cited the cash she has made from tours and the sales of over 220 million records.”
The new listing from Forbes is commendable, as it celebrates the achievements of self-made women in various industries. In propagating this new listing, Forbes helps promote gender equality by opening the window to the power of women. In addition, the new listing helps correct common misconceptions regarding who’s who financially in different industries.
Céline Dion’s $380 million net worth makes her one of America's richest #SelfMadeWomen https://t.co/vZo1myprGi pic.twitter.com/deQIFniiRR
— Forbes (@Forbes) June 3, 2016
To illustrate, all the media hype regarding Taylor Swift’s record earnings has created the false impression that she is the music industry’s current top earner. The same thing can be said for Beyoncé, who, it is easy to assume, earns much more than Celine Dion does.
However, listings such as Forbes‘ should not be used as the sole basis for assessing the economic performance of an individual as doing so tends to objectify the person. By relegating a human being to a mere number in the numbers game, the fine nuances of job satisfaction as well as other subtleties can be easy to miss. After all, not everything is about money or income potential.
For artists like Celine Dion, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and many others, their contributions to the economy and to the artistic community are often hard to quantify. For example, Celine’s music video for her hit single “A New Day Has Come” has generated over 59 million views on YouTube. And yet, no one has put a scale to measure just how truly satisfying watching such a music video is, say, on a scale of one to 10.
In fact, even if someone does succeed in creating such a scale, this will not be enough to quantify Celine Dion’s artistic worth due to its many intangible aspects. That will be like trying to put a value to all of the singer’s singles over the years and attempting to quantify exactly how many lives these music singles might have touched or even saved.
Still, the fact remains that without her powerful vocals, Celine Dion would not have been able to establish herself in the industry and cement her leadership in the music business. Critic of Music demystifies the mystique of Celine Dion’s inner songbird as follows.
“Vocal Positives: Resonant belts. They can be held for long periods of time, without the slightest wavering in pitch. The sharpness in this register allows for her voice to pierce through the heaviest instrumentation. Celine projects her voice in all registers, and maintains vocal agility throughout each octave. Her lower notes are generally well supported down to D3. The mid-range sometimes carries a rasp with it, but it is soft and makes lyrical lines with ease. The mid-range transitions into the belting register with ease. The head voice carries an operatic ring to it.”
The source also criticizes the nasal nature of Celine Dion’s voice, while at the same time recognizing that such a quality is part of the artist’s French upbringing. Still, the source insists that appreciating this quality of Celine’s vocal prowess “is an acquired taste.”
Very special visit from dear and long-time friend Jerry Lewis yesterday @ColosseumatCP! -TC pic.twitter.com/kI9q1auxBM
— Celine Dion (@celinedion) June 2, 2016
Although Celine Dion’s vocal cords remain her best capital for success, she has many other endearing qualities which have helped fuel her phenomenal rise to fame and fortune. One of these is Celine’s genuine likability which is akin to Justin Timberlake’s, a quality that rubs off on her colleagues as well as her fans. Another is the staple Celine Dion industriousness. The show must go on, she insists, come hell or high water. If she doesn’t lose any of her advantages as a musician, Celine Dion will no doubt continue to remain prosperous for many more years to come.
[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
