Every year, Billboard Magazine creates a list of the Music’s Top Money Makers of 2012. This year’s list included everyone we expected to be on there — however, the number one spot took us by surprise. Who was the top money maker? Taylor Swift. More details below!!
1. Taylor Swift — $35,719,902
After wrapping the final leg of her Fearless tour, Taylor Swift’s blockbuster success two years ago left music industry observers wondering what she could possibly do for an encore. The pop-country superstar answered them with her smash Speak Now album and accompanying tour, which jetted through Asia and Europe in addition to making its way across North America. Grossing $88.5 million in the U.S. alone, the tour netted Swift a remarkable $29.8 million. Honored as Billboard’s Woman of the Year in December, she racked up U.S. album sales of 1.8 million units last year-led by booming business for late 2010’s Speak Now, which sold 967,000 units and digital single track sales of 7.8 million. Songwriting royalties were another highly beneficial source of income, given that Swift wrote all 14 Speak Now tunes herself.
