Katy Perry Shocks Forbes Readers With $135 Million Earnings, Top Earning Female Celeb [Video]


Katy Perry is not just the music industry’s darling, she’s also their top earning female and musician, according to Forbes magazine’s highest paid celebrity list for 2015.

In fact, in a world where many musicians are struggling to keep up with the changing pace of the music industry, Katy outranked many well known and established film stars and sports icons.

The rankings take place from June to June, and Perry knocked it out of the park, surprising readers by earning a spot behind boxers Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, reports Examiner.

Katy’s $135 million earnings are attributed by and large to her recent and very successful tour, which substantially boosted her income. The singer has said in the interview that she views her celebrity status as a business, and Perry sees herself as an entrepreneur, reports Examiner.

As part of its article about the top paid celebrities, Forbes delved into why Perry earned so much. According to the magazine, Katy’s Prismatic World Tour earned her the bulk of her income. Katy, who was recently booed at a concert by Taylor Swift fans, played 124 shows during the past 12 months, and 75 were outside the United States in 27 different countries reports the magazine. Perry’s managers told the magazine that 60 percent of her income can now be attributed to her non-American fans.

“You don’t have to go back and play New York, Detroit, Chicago, over and over again,” Gary Bongiovanni, chief of touring data provider Pollstar told Forbes about how Perry scored her millions. “There are a lot of other territories for artists to play.”

The magazine switched up its ranking data this year to include more celebrities from other markets, making Katy Perry’s debut at $135 million at the top even more impressive, given she had global competition. Star Jackie Chan, who came in behind Perry at number 38 with a $50 million earnings, said in the article, “Why this side is yours, this side is mine? Who designed the boundary? I think the world belongs to us,” summarizing the shift in how the rankings are determined.

Several other musicians joined Katy Perry on the Top 100 list, including Ed Sheeran with $57 million in earnings who came in 27th place, and Taylor Swift who tied with Robert Downey, Jr. at $80 million, earning them a number 8th place.

As for her spotlight on this years list: “I didn’t really watch it,” said Perry, the subject of this year’s Celeb 100 cover story reports Forbes. “But I heard there wasn’t really much to watch, anyway.” Seems Katy is too busy making money to care about her rankings on the Forbes highest paid celebrity list.

[Image credit: John Lamparski/Getty Images]

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