Taylor Swift top money-making celeb: beats One Direction, Adele, Rihanna

One of Taylor Swift’s best-selling CDs is called “Red,” but that certainly doesn’t describe her bank account.
Swift, 26, is solidly in the green, landing Monday atop Forbes’ annual list of the 100 top-earning celebrities over the past year.

Thanks largely to her smash world tour in support of her latest release “1989,” Swift pulled in $170 million over the past year to put on top of the list, according to Forbes.
“She smashed the Rolling Stones’ North American touring record, grossing $200 million on the continent en route to a quarter of a billion dollars in total,” according to Forbes. “She also pads her pocketbook by shilling for brands including Diet Coke, Keds and Apple.”

The magazine noted that Swift’s earnings were roughly half the amount pulled in by last year’s leading celebrity — Floyd Mayweather, whose long- awaited bout with Manny Pacquiao pushed his earnings that year to $300 million. But Swift’s earnings over the past year doubled her $80 million take-home pay from the previous year.
Other notables on the list are boy band One Direction, which placed second with $110 million, comedian Kevin Hart with $87.5 million, Adele at $80.5 million, Rihanna at $75 million and Katy Perry with $41 million.

Beyonce and Jay Z were the highest-earning celebrity couple, pulling in a collective $107.5 million over the past year. Beyonce individually brought in $54 million, while Jay Z earned $53.5 million.
Kim Kardashian West graces the cover of the Forbes celebrity edition. She ranked 42nd on the list with $51 million.