Taylor Swift

Singer Taylor Swift has topped this year’s Forbes list of the world’s 100 highest paid celebrities, earning $170 million mainly thanks to her hugely successful “1989” world tour. The “Shake It Off” singer, 26, came ahead of boy band One Direction, currently on a break, who took second place with $110 million.

“The pop superstar smashed the Rolling Stones’ North American touring record, grossing $200 million on the continent en route to a quarter-billion dollars in total for her 1989 World Tour,” Forbes said in a statement. With earnings of $95 million, American author James Patterson came in third. US television personality Dr Phil McGraw and Real Madrid soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo were tied fourth with earnings of $88 million, the magazine said.

The other top 10 spots were held by American comedian Kevin Hart, British singer Adele and Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi alongside US radio hosts Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh. “The world’s 100 highest-paid celebrities pulled in $5.1 billion pretax over the past 12 months, more than the GDP of Belize, Gambia and Bhutan combined,” Forbes said.— Reuters