Despite the fact that her recent album Witness was a critical flop (which she knows), Katy Perry still managed to become this year’s highest paid woman in music through persistence, touring, and American Idol.
According to Forbes, she beat out both Beyoncé (who was 2017’s top earner) and Taylor Swift (2016’s highest paid) to take the top spot this year. Perry pulled in a reported $83 million pretax in 2018, a combination of touring her failed attempt at “purposeful pop,” 2017’s Witness (that’s 80 dates, averaging $1 million a night) and her role as a judge on American Idol (reportedly $20 million). The singing competition likely gave Perry an advantage, pushing her to number one.
For the Witness tour, Boxscore reported similar nightly tour earnings: $1.7 million in Connecticut, $2.6 in New York City, $1 million in Brooklyn, $750,000+ in Pittsburgh, etc. The Forbes article also points out that most of Swift’s Reputation tour and Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s On the Run II tour will count toward next year’s numbers, so this could be a case of good timing on Perry’s behalf. She’s gonna get that cozy Christmas after all.
Here’s the full list:
1. Katy Perry ($83 million)
2. Taylor Swift ($80 million)
3. Beyoncé ($60 million)
4. Pink ($52 million)
5. Lady Gaga ($50 million)
6. Jennifer Lopez ($47 million)
7. Rihanna ($37.5 million)
8. Helene Fischer ($32 million)
9. Celine Dion ($31 million)
10. Britney Spears ($30 million)