Taylor Swift has returned to the top of Forbes' highest paid celebrity list—and this year, with her biggest earnings yet. The outlet reports that Swift's estimated pay was £147 ($185) million pre-tax last year. That's an over £80 million increase from the £64 million pay she brought in back in 2018.
Kylie Jenner, the youngest billionaire, was the second on the list with £135 million—just £8 million behind Swift.
Swift has topped Forbes' list before but with slightly less income. Back in 2017, Swift brought in £135 million. Both of Swift's #1 spot victories were largely fuelled by her tour income.
Her Reputation world tour, which started last year, became the highest grossing U.S tour ever since Billboard began tracking tours in 1990. It brought in £212 million domestically, so that's not including its legs abroad. In 2017, Swift got a boost thanks to her 1989 World Tour. Forbes notes that Netflix acquiring her live concert special and her deals with Apple, AT&T, and Diet Coke also added 'millions' to Swift's income.
Swift spoke about the doubts people had about her tour during her iHeartRadio Music Awards appearance, where she got the award for Tour of the Year.
'I think one of the most wonderful things about the way that this whole tour turned out is that for like the entire six months leading up to the first show of this tour, every headline that I read about the tour was, 'This is going to be a massive failure. This is going to be a flop tour,'' she started.
'And you know, it really did wonders for my self-esteem. It was really great to hear people saying that I was going to be playing to nearly empty stadiums. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned a lot. And one of the things that I’ve learned is life is really unpredictable and people can make forecasts, and they can make predictions, but those predictions and forecasts may not come true if there’s an unforeseeable factor involved. And that unforeseeable factor in this case was my fans. So honestly, I honestly owe everything, everything in my life to you.'
In terms of the rest of Forbes' top 30, Kanye West was third with £120 million while Swift's good friend Ed Sheeran was #5 with $110 million.
Beyoncé was number 20 with $81 million earned. Kim Kardashian was number 26 with £57 million. You can see the full list here.
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
