Carrie Underwood Tops Forbes’ List of Highest Paid ‘American Idols’

It’s been over six years since she’s been on the show, but the fan base Carrie Underwood started to build on her American Idol season-4-winning run is still paying off.

Underwood earned an estimated $20 million between May 2010 and May 2011, according to a ranking published by Forbes on Thursday, landing the 28-year-old country star at the top of Forbes list of “The Top-Earning American Idols.”

Carrie easily beat Chris Daughtry (No 2 on the list) and Adam Lambert (No 3) – two contestants who didn’t even win “Idol” – who pulled in $6 million each.

Others rounding out the list include season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino with $4 million; one of the show’s youngest winners, Jordin Sparks, with $3 million; and Kelly Clarkson with $2.5 million.

According to Forbes, the earnings were calculated by taking “estimated pretax income earned from May 2010 to May 2011, before subtracting agent and manager fees.”

Watch Underwood team up with Vince Gill to perform a soul-wrenching, tear-jerking rendition of “How Great Thou Art.”

via CNN