Pop singer Taylor Swift tops Forbes’ 2016 list of highest paid women in music

With earnings of US$170 million, pop singer Taylor Swift was 2016’s highest-paid woman in music, Forbes magazine said on Wednesday.

Swift, 26, smashed the Rolling Stones’ North American touring record, pulling in a total of more than US$200 million on the North American portion of her “1989” world tour. Last year, the Bad Blood singer came in second to Katy Perry with an estimated US$80 million.

Swift was honoured with the first-ever “Taylor Swift Award” at the BMI Pop Awards in May, quipping that she “would be kind of bummed” if the award had gone to someone else.

British Hello singer Adele, 28, ranked second on Forbes’ list with US$80.5 million in earnings, her highest total yet. Adele, whose album “25” swiftly became the biggest seller of 2015, enjoyed continued success with album sales this year and grossed millions per night for her arena shows.

Madonna, who was named the highest-paid woman in music in 2013, ranked third this year. Her recent “Rebel Heart” tour grossed US$170 million, bringing her career total on the road to US$1.4 billion pretax, according to the magazine.