Billboard Music Top 40 Money Makers 2012

[Joe1240]

How The Money Makers List Was Formulated: Billboard editors used proprietary data from the Boxscore archives for U.S. concert grosses. We used Nielsen SoundScan for sales of physical and digital albums, digital tracks and ringtone sales. Data from Nielsen BDS provided information on terrestrial radio airplay, tethered music downloads, on-demand music streams and noninteractive streaming at Myspace, Cricket Wireless (Muve), Rhapsody, Yahoo, Spotify, Slacker, Rdio, MediaNet (MOG) and Guvera. Also included in our calculations were Vevo video plays, Warner Music official video plays on YouTube (Warner clips aren't available on Vevo) and video plays on request service Akoo.

We then applied corresponding mechanical rates and estimates to each of these categories. In calculating an artist's share of revenue from recorded-music sales, we assumed a royalty rate of 20%, minus producer fees. Artists received 100% credit for the sale of a title or concert Boxscore if credited as the lead artist, and 50% credit if sharing equal billing with another act. We credited each artist with 34% of gross tour receipts; i.e., what's typically left after the promoter's fee, the artist manager's fee and other costs are subtracted.

CD mechanical royalties for artist/songwriters were calculated by assuming standard royalty rates. For digital album and track downloads, we used current statutory rates, assuming 12 tracks per album. We also subtracted a 10% manager's fee for each revenue category.

An artist's take of revenue from on-demand streams was calculated based on the average wholesale rate paid to labels. Revenue from noninteractive streams was based on SoundExchange's rate settlement with webcasters. An artist's share of revenue from tethered downloads was calculated on the number of plays. If the artist is also a songwriter, Billboard estimated the share of songs written by that artist. But digital revenue accounted for only a fraction of the overall hauls by most artists. In 2011, there was no contest: Touring was by far the largest income generator for most every superstar artist-and it will remain so into the foreseeable future.

The List-
40
Linkin Park
$5,190,655
39
Kanye West
$5,363,661
38
Mötley Crüe
$5,376,272
37
Steely Dan
$5,389,509
36
New Kids On The Block
$5,519,805
35
Justin Bieber
$5,523,459
34
Sugarland
$5,632,406
33
Backstreet Boys
$5,712,050
32
Rush
$5,819,304
31
Foo Fighters
$6,013,257
30
Usher
$6,292,586
29
Rod Stewart
$6,388,756
28
Zac Brown Band
$6,481,564
27
Keith Urban
$6,579,695
26
Lady Antebellum
$6,676,450
25
Paul McCartney
$6,726,519
24
The Beatles
$6,743,863
23
Enrique Iglesias
$7,448,670
22
Rihanna
$7,660,833
21
Brad Paisley
$8,602,374
20
Michael Bublé
$9,027,177
19
Tim McGraw
$9,335,258
18
Rascal Flatts
$9,639,270
17
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
$10,017,031
16
Britney Spears
$10,090,973
15
Toby Keith
$10,413,127
14
Katy Perry
$11,969,426
13
Elton John
$11,973,990
12
Journey
$12,313,822
11
"Glee" Cast
$12,587,771
10
Adele
$13,081,909
9
Jason Aldean
$13,409,011
8
Celine Dion
$14,261,515
7
Bon Jovi
$19,813,232
6
Sade
$16,382,809
5
Lil Wayne
$23,178,722
4
Lady Gaga
$25,353,039
3
Kenny Chesney
$29,837,103
2
U2
$32,116,315
1
Taylor Swift
$35,719,902

www.billboard.com/news/top-40-money-makers-2012-1006415552.story#/news/top-40-money-makers-2012-1006415552.story

[ListenToItTwice]

Wow this really goes to show you how much more important than record sales tour income can be... Is this for the calendar year 2011?

[Wavey✨️]

U2 STILL MAKING MONEY.

[gracelessheart]

U2's longevity and sustained relevance is amazing to me. Gotta give it to 'em.

[CammyCan]

I'm guessing her Forbes listing will be around 55-60 million with all of her endorsements and other ventures.

[Ke$ha's Left Tittie]

Did they forget about MJ?

The Immortal Tour alone is bringing in $2 million a show.

[ListenToItTwice]

Mar 9, 2012 21:30:45 GMT -5 Ke$ha's Left Tittie said:

Did they forget about MJ?

The Immortal Tour alone is bringing in $2 million a show.

I doubt that deceased artists (The Beatles, of course, have two living members) count for this list, as the artist zhimself is not earning the money.

[while]

Gotta give it to 'em.

[slw84]

Mar 9, 2012 19:37:33 GMT -5 CammyCan said:

I'm guessing her Forbes listing will be around 55-60 million with all of her endorsements and other ventures.

In swizzle we trust, Amen

[tigers84]

12 Journey $12,313,822. Still bringing in the money despite the absence of Steve Perry. Just imagine how much money they would be bringing in if the original Journey reformed.

[esoteric76]

Mar 9, 2012 21:59:04 GMT -5 ListenToItTwice said:

Mar 9, 2012 21:30:45 GMT -5 Ke$ha's Left Tittie said:

Did they forget about MJ?

The Immortal Tour alone is bringing in $2 million a show.

I doubt that deceased artists (The Beatles, of course, have two living members) count for this list, as the artist zhimself is not earning the money.

Also, the majority of the tour is performing in 2012, so let's see how it wraps up at the end of the year. I'm sure it will place him high on the dead-celebs list.

[asg4]

i am surprised prince isnt there he had 21 days in LA alone and some scathered dates all over must have done over 30 in the us alone then he went to europe and had some in canada and i cant see him not even making $5mill the lowest of this list

[icefire9]

Mar 14, 2012 15:39:41 GMT -5 asg4 said:

i am surprised prince isnt there he had 21 days in LA alone and some scathered dates all over must have done over 30 in the us alone then he went to europe and had some in canada and i cant see him not even making $5mill the lowest of this list

Well first of all, only concerts (and sales and airplay for that matter) in the U.S count for this chart.

[slicknickshady]

Just imagine if Eminem actually toured.