It’s a good year to be famous. Over the past 12 months, the world’s 100 highest-paid celebrities pulled in $5.15 billion–more than the combined GDP of Belize, Liberia and Gambia–led by Diddy, who clocked a career-best $130 million. Beyoncé and J.K. Rowling round out the top three with $105 million and $95 million, respectively.
Though Diddy’s payday mostly came from the sale of a large chunk of Sean John clothing equity and his ongoing partnership with Diageo’s Ciroc vodka, many of the names on our list are profiting from the emergence of the new entertainment economy. From Spotify to Netflix, streaming platforms are directly enriching stars in a manner that once seemed a distant dream–and indirectly fueling lucrative live shows for the likes of The Weeknd, who appears on the cover of this year’s Celebrity 100 issue. “We live in a world where artists don’t really make the money off the music like we did in the Golden Age,” he tells FORBES. “It’s not really coming in until you hit the stage.”
Rank, Name, Earnings (Category, Country)
1. Diddy, $130 million (Musician, U.S.)
2. Beyoncé, $105 million (Musician, U.S.)
3. J.K. Rowling, $95 million (Author, U.K.)
4. Drake, $94 million (Musician, Canada)
5. Cristiano Ronaldo, $93 million (Athlete, Portugal)
6. The Weeknd, $92 million (Musician, Canada)
7. Howard Stern, $90 million (Personality, U.S.)
8. Coldplay, $88 million (Musicians, U.K.)
9. James Patterson, $87 million (Author, U.S.)
10. LeBron James, $86 million (Athlete, U.S.)
