Madonna crowned top music earner in 2012

Madonna was named the biggest money maker in music in 2012 on Friday, with a world tour helping her take home up to $34.6 million (22.6 million pounds) and highlighting the earning power of live performances as the industry increasingly goes digital.
The 54-year-old Material Girl topped Billboard Magazine's annual list of 40 top money makers for the second time after earning an estimated $32 million - 93.5 percent of her revenue - from her 88-date 'MDNA' tour, 2012's biggest tour.
Madonna, who also led the list in 2008 due to tour income, was the only woman in the top 10 with last year's winner, Taylor Swift, who fell to 15th place as she did not tour in 2012.
In second place in the music magazine's list was Bruce Springsteen whose $33.4 million revenue was also primarily driven by touring, playing to sold-out stadiums and arenas.
Springsteen, who also released a No. 1 album, 'Wrecking Ball,' last year, earned 92 percent of his revenue from live shows where strong merchandise sales also boosted takings.
Roger Waters, founder of Pink Floyd, came a distant third with earnings of $21 million largely from 'The Wall Live' tour and Van Halen was fourth with $20 million after touring in support of their album 'A Different Kind of Truth'.
'When it comes to making the biggest score, the most money always comes from high-paying live performances,' Billboard's editorial analyst Glenn Peoples wrote in explaining the list.
'Ironically, the most popular touring artists are usually well past their peaks on the album sales charts.'
Country music veteran Kenny Chesney, the Dave Matthews Band, country's Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean, and British band Coldplay came next on the list.
The list was compiled by Billboard editors using data for Boxscore archives of U.S. concert gross figures, Nielsen SoundScan data for sales, YouTube, and Nielsen BDS data.

From Reuters Via Yahoo! News

Comments

[Verhuur Geluidsinstallatie]

That is an interesting list of artists that are not that popular anymore!

[paul harvey]

I think those were just her U.S. earnings.Madonna gets paid at least 1.5 million per performance.I am going to wait for forbes' numbers,that is more accurate.If
those numbers are correct then she did not get paid some shows.

[T]

@just Me - you are retiring at 40? Lucky you!!

[Daniel]

She is the only female artist who can fill up stadiums all over the world... She is simply legendary... Love her or hate her she still got it!

[T]

Radio doesn't play madonna anymore because they think Lady Goober is new queen of pop. Funny, since she has only been around 4 years and is already losing fans and popularity. Not to mention she only has 2 #1's.

[ngl]

Madonna was very fortunate to have established her musical career at a time when the industry was flourishing & they could support new/ established artists.
Madonna is a talented live performer, & she has wisely reinvented herself primarily into a touring artist. Madonna has a secure future.
The music industry landscape has changed a lot in the past decade & sadly it's no longer economically viable for each radio station to have its own programmers & dj's.
The 'MDNA' album was not a huge success worldwide due to the simple fact that it wasn't a very good album. Orbit even tried to distance himself from the project.

[Just Me]

I started listening to Madonna when I was in 4th grade and dreaming of what would I be when she was a megastar. Now I still listening to her and planning my retirement age and she is still a megastar and on top. Love Madonna.

[Gary]

Good for u Madonna! For the life of me I can't comprehend why MDNA wasn't a huge seller here in the U.S.? The album has killer dance/electfonic tunes that are far better than alot of what is played at radio stations, yet programmers don't play her current tracks. I think radio programmers either lost their touch for playing new tracks from established artists or are pigeonholed into playing what their corporate owners say. Did they forget the power of what they do. There was a time when radio programmers were in competition to "break" new hits...be the first to play a song that would become a huge hit. There was also a time when Chicago, NewYork and L.A. had alot of their own sound...now u have corporate stations like Kiss fm using the same playlist at their stations across the country, it's awful. It has even gone so far that they use one dj across the board and insert pretaped segments here and there that are specific to each city. I don't know if they think they are fooling the audience into thinking Ryan Seacrest is in the studio at each city they have a station in, but they aren't . It does not bother when I am listening to satellite radio, but it bugs me if I am listening to fm radio. They need to go back to having programmers and dj's at each station because that would bring back the creative juices to each station and get back to dj's selecting their own music to play!

[jake]

bow down bitches! the most interesting part of this is she's the only female artist in top 10! take that Elton, Gaga and anyone who dare to dethrone, insult Her Madgesty. There's only one Queen!

[T]

Oh, odd. I thought everyone walked out and stadiums were half empty?