How did Katy Perry beat Beyoncé and Taylor Swift for 2018’s highest-paid woman in music?

Katy Perry beats Beyoncé and Taylor Swift in Forbes’ list of top-earning female artists in music for 2018. So… how did she do it?

Every year, Forbes releases a list of the Highest-Paid Women in Music. This list is always worth looking at as it gives a good view of who the most popular and well-known women in music are for the year, and sometimes the list is rather surprising. For 2018, the list showed that Katy Perry was the highest paid women in music as she made $83 million between the months of June 2017 and June 2018.

If you’re a bit surprised by this statistic, you’re likely not the only one. It doesn’t seem like Katy Perry is making headlines or even close to the most popular female artist on popular social media sites like Twitter. Not to say she isn’t successful, as she definitely is, but 2018 has been dominated by names like Cardi B and Ariana Grande. So, how is it that Katy Perry could be making more money than more talked about stars?

For one thing, after Perry, Taylor Swift got the second spot with around $80 million, and Beyoncé came in third with $60 million. It seems like Swift and Beyoncé are both known for being more influential in cultural ways as well as musical ones. But Forbes’ focus isn’t about social media fans or the number of headlines one has had in a year — it is all about the money and the means to getting it.

Much of the money Katy Perry earned this year is from her Witness tour, which had 80 stops. Add that on top of sales from her music, products she’s sold and advertisements and you can rack up a lot of dollar signs real quick.

With such a large tour, Perry likely had the opportunity to sell more tickets. Other artists like Beyoncé or Swift who didn’t have as many tour dates or locations likely won’t see as much revenue. Musicians these days often make large percentages of their money from touring, so those artists who do larger tours will likely see more earnings.

You can see the full list of the top-earning female artists in music right here:

1. Katy Perry with $83 million
2. Taylor Swift with $80 million
3. Beyoncé with $60 million
4. Pink with $52 million
5. Lady Gaga with $50 million
6. Jennifer Lopez with $47 million
7. Rihanna with $37.5 million
8. Helene Fischer with $32 million
9. Celine Dion with $31 million
10. Britney Spears with $30 million)

It’s also worth noting that some popular female artists such as Ariana Grande didn’t quite make the list despite their large success in the industry. There are also a few people you wouldn’t expect to see on the list such as Celine Dion, who is clearly still going really strong.

What do you make of this list? Were you surprised by who did and didn’t make the list? Share your comments with us below!