Katy Perry beats Beyonce as highest earning woman Forbes

31-year-old songstress Katy Perry has topped the Forbes list of highest earning women in music in the year 2015 beating the likes of Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.

Although the Wildest Dreams hit-maker did not make numerous sales through her albums, Forbes reveals that her annual earnings amounted to USD 135 million, an equivalent of Ksh 14 billion.

On average, Ms Perry earned an average of USD2 million (Ksh 204.7 million) per city over the course of 126 shows. This is largely attributed to the artiste’s highly praised Prismatic tour.

Her sizable earnings from endorsement deals with cosmetic companies Coty and CoverGirl also contributed to her top spot in the list.

Beyoncé, who took fifth place this year with an annual earning of USD 54.5 million (Ksh 5.5 billion), was at the top last year due to her On the Run tour with her husband and music mogul Jay Z as well as endorsement deals from Pepsi and L’Oreal.

Taylor Swift comes a distant second from Perry despite sales from 3.6 Million copies of her album 1989 making a total of USD 80 million (Ksh8.1 billion).

Forbes adds that it is believed Taylor will bag the top spot next year because of her latest tour, which is grossing USD 4 million (Ksh409 million) per city and her top-single Wildest Dreams.

Although Fleetwood Mac includes three men, front women Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie qualify for the Forbes list.

The group engaged in a lucrative 86-city tour during the Forbes scoring period and grossed a total of USD 59.5 million (Ksh 6.09 billion).

Lady Gaga comes as no surprise but it is not her music which made her gross USD 59 million (Ksh 6.03 billion) and rank so high in the Forbes list but sales from her Fragrance Fame and her deals with Versace, cosmetics company, MAC.

Britney Spears ranks sixth making a total of USD31 million (Ksh 3.1 billion) largely because of sales from her lingerie line, The Intimate Britney Spears, as well as her earnings from Las Vegas residency at Planet Hollywood.

The sultry songstress Jennifer Lopez takes the seventh spot with a total of USD28.5 million (Ksh 2.9 billion) on the Forbes Board due to her earnings from her American Idol judging contract.

The star is set to begin her own residency at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas in 2016.

Country singer, Miranda Lambert and Mariah Carey take the 8^th and 9^th spot respectively.

Miranda who tied with Jennifer Lopez got her earnings through her music, clothing line and pet accessories.

Mariah made USD 1.5 million (Ksh 153 million) less than the two from her lucrative Vegas residency in May that still continues into the next year.

The young singer, Rihanna made top ten making a total of USD26 million (Ksh 2.6 billion).

Her upcoming album Anti and likely world tour will land her a spot in the Forbes list next year and hopefully at the top five.