Beyoncé named top-earning woman in music, beating Taylor Swift

Taking home more than $115m (£72m) has made Beyoncé this year’s best paid woman in music.

She had the “biggest year of her career”, playing 95 shows, bringing in an average $2.4m (£1.5m) per city, according to Forbes.

Endorsement deals with companies like Pepsi and H&M, along with the surprise album she released in December 2013, helped her to the top spot.

The self-titled album was released on iTunes with no prior promotion.

Beyoncé has just announced she’ll be releasing a platinum version of that album later this month, which will include new songs and a concert video.

Taylor Swift came in second on the Forbes list, taking home an estimated $64m (£40m).

Completing the top three is Pink, who played 85 dates during the time period Forbes used to make its estimates. Her earnings were valued at $52m (£32.5m).

Other artists on the list include Rihanna in fourth with $48m (£30m) and Katy Perry, who took home $40m (£25m), in fifth.

Forbes calculated earnings by looking at income from “touring, record sales, publishing, merchandise sales, endorsements and other ventures” between June 2013 and June 2014.

They also interviewed managers, lawyers and executives and looked at data from organisations such as Nielsen SoundScan.

Some of the high-profile artists who missed out on a spot in the top 10 included Madonna, Nicki Minaj and Alicia Keys.

(Source: BBC News)