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June 22, 2009

Madonna, Celine Dion, Beyonce top Forbes' list of highest-earning musicians

madonnaWhat musicians made the most money in the past year?

Forbes just released its annual list of the top-earning musicians (from June 2008 to June 2009), and the top three spots are:

1. Madonna (pictured), $110 million

2. Celine Dion, $100 million

3. Beyonce, $87 million

Forbes estimated the musicians' gross earnings by tallying album sales, publishing rights and endorsements from Billboard, Pollstar and Nielsen SoundScan.

According to Forbes, the top 10 highest-grossing musicians piled up just about $719 million this past year, compared with $500 million the year before.

The reasons for the surge? Ticket prices are up $5 on average, which is the largest price hike in years, Forbes reports.

(AP photo)

Posted by Sam Sessa at 4:54 PM | | Comments (26)
Categories: Random stuff
        

Comments

U go Celine.....

Madonna is the real Queen of Pop! MILES AWAY is her latest single so download now from iTunes, amazon.com and masterbeat.com!

good job madonna! you are the queen of pop.

Maddona is not just Maddona. She is a Brand. Built on pushing the right buttons at the right time. She deserves every cent she's ever made.

yessssssssssssssssssss beyonce the #1 black female...and in the league of madonna and celine!!!!

I'm kinda tired of Madonna, to tell you the truth. I'm also surprised to see Celine there, but I guess her Vegas show is probably doing pretty well. Loving Beyonce up in the top three. If I could be any celebrity, I'd be her. Love it.

I thought Madonna had a liver spot on her cheek but it turned out to be a spot on my monitor.

Billy Holcombe,

For someone who runs a concern entitled "Brand-Perspective" you shouldn't have mispelt Madonna's name,...twice.

Personal, I always thought of her as a talented and cunning opportunist.
I have bought her records.

What? no criticism on the ticket prices these ladies get for their shows.
Any chance, based on the ticket face price, in getting into any of these ladies' shows for under $150.00?

Digression
Mad Donna & Life's A Gas (with Cilla Blank) - T. Rex (1973):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4UTdMlnQTs

Marc Bolan could probably be credited for starting the Glitter Era.

these numbers forbes put out are recycled from 2006-2007 there nothing new by the way forbes magazine laying off workers and thay worried how much these plastic women make

GDA,

For someone who's usually up everyone else's butt, you shouldn't have misspelled, "mispelt".

Celine is the best! Many people in the US like to mock her (mainly because she is successful and not American) but look she made it in the top yet again after all these years. She is HUGE in Europe you can't believe and that's the reason she will be in the Top for a long time. A class act who can REALLY sing live unlike Madonna.

Madonna is the QUEEN OF LIVER SPOTS.

Amazing she still makes cash looking like a dried up prune .. i guess anyone will pay to watch her open her legs on stage

watch the pic of her...
http://theworldaccordingtolawgirl.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/madonna-scary.jpg

Madonna is only there bcuz she is trashy on stage.Americans love a slutty act over talent.
At 50 who wants to see her old crotch on stage?

Celine my love , you did well as always.
You can sing !

I love Celine Dion what a great human being , im glad she made the top 3, shes the best singer

Allan,

Touché!
I succumbed to what appears to be a common mistake and poor proofreading.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mispelt&rlz=1W1GGLL_en&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g%3As2g1g%3As7

I stand corrected.

britney - most woman look ordinary without makeup, ever check out the supermarket rags
The other britney didn’t look very desirable during her time of difficulty.

Mariah Fan - you’re cold and crass as you think Madonna. Celine may be a lady, you’re not.

just where is Mariah?

I held off commenting here for twenty-four hours because I didn't want to leave a snarky whine to start off your responses, derailing immediately and possibly setting a not-so-great tone, and because I thought perhaps someone else would come along and make the same point. Since no-one has: It's your blog, you can and should write whatever you want, but what the hell does any of this have to do with anything related to Baltimore? Maybe it's just because I personally can't think of many things I'd care less about, but this post just seems bizarrely pointless and irrelevant. As does this comment. Carry on, Sir. Cheers!

Haha, GDA, I was soooo close to posting the link to the google page, which is what I did as well, but decided against it.

Madonna is a NO TALENT artist. How anyone can go and see her on stage cavorting around with a bunch of sycophantic males amazes me.

With artists like her is it any wonder that music sales are dropping fast.

She is a paparazzi favourite and headline grabber.

Brian Quinn,

I disagree to paraphrase myself,

Personal, I always thought of Madonna as a talented and cunning opportunist.
I have bought her records.

While admittedly she’s not everyone’s vocalist or crumpet* of choice, she has to have some talent and, or charisma to continue to be successful for thirty years. Yes, she is a paparazzi favourite and headline grabber, which is great for sales if you have something to deliver to back it up.

Music sales have been dropping for the last eight years, CDs in particular, largely because of illegal downloads. Record companies now will only support artist who are proven major sellers. Now record companies no longer have risk money to support rising groups that don’t show an immediate profit in sales with their first record, ergo they release records by people who adhere to a proven sale formula and radio has been working the same way for most of the last twenty years.

A band in the late seventies in their line notes once commented:
“Radio wants tomorrow’s records to sound like yesterday’s so they can play them to day.”

BY the way who do you think is the great hope of the future of music?
Of course expect people to take potshots at them.

* I assume you understand the use of crumpet, if you prefer to use the British England spelling of favorite.

LONG LIVE MADONNA THE QUEEN!


It's incredible that 27 years into her career she is still on top!

GDA, was that quote from Rush?

Allan,

Unhappily, I don't remember the source any more. I'm not a Rush fan. It appear in a Trouser Press reviewer for the album it original appeared on, Rush isn't in their index of artists critiques that includes album reviews that are available on their website.

Review index: http://www.trouserpress.com/reviews_list.php?letter=r

Home page: http://www.trouserpress.com/index.php

congratulation celine
she deserve it
her TAKING CHANCES WORLD TOUR did a great job
love you celine

celine is definitely the best singer of them all. no one can beat her except for herself,,of course... and she inspires me

I was just shocked to see Celine at no 2 she diserves to be the no 1 becz she has an extraordinary and better voice than Maddona. I Like Celine very much. Excellent!

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About Sam Sessa
I've been The Baltimore Sun's nightlife and local entertainment reporter for a couple years, and it's surprising how much the scene has grown in that time. Most of Baltimore's bars and clubs are unpretentious places with fairly cheap drinks and plenty of character. I like dancing and think this city needs more clubs, but nothing beats having a cold, locally brewed beer with friends in a comfortably full corner bar.
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