Taylor Swift, Shania Twain Among Music’s Highest-Paid Women in 2016
Forbes has released its list of the highest-paid women in music for 2016, and two of the artists on the list will be familiar to country fans: Taylor Swift and Shania Twain are among the music industry's richest women this year.
Unsurprisingly, Swift landed the list's No. 1 spot, grossing $170 million in 2016, mostly due to her 1989 World Tour. The country-turned pop superstar brought in a cool quarter of a billion dollars while out on the road; she also sold more than 3 million album equivalents and endorsed Keds, Diet Coke and Apple.
“She has been building her fan base for years, and that fan base crosses multiple market segments," entertainment attorney Lori Landew of Fox Rothschild tells Forbes. “It’s this ability to appeal to younger and older audiences, and those in between, that makes Taylor such a sure bet with both concert promoters and brands who want to affiliate with her and with the community she has cultivated.”
Twain landed in the bottom half of the list's Top 10 (No. 9), raking in $27.5 million in 2016. The country star also landed on Forbes' list of 2016's top-earning country artists over the summer; she's No. 7 on that list.
Also on that list of country music's big earners in 2016? Garth Brooks earned the No. 1 spot, while Kenny Chesney, who earns big bucks starring in ads for Corona beer and Costa sunglasses, ranked second. Luke Bryan came in at No. 3, and Toby Keith and Jason Aldean landed at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.
Although Swift has largely stayed in the pop world since releasing 1989 in 2014, she did appear at the 2016 CMA Awards on Nov. 2, and it was recently revealed that the superstar wrote Little Big Town’s newest single, “Better Man.” Twain, meanwhile, has earned a number of honors recently, including Billboard's Women in Music Icon honor and CMT's Artist of a Lifetime trophy.