Top-earning Musician | featured news

With a whopping $110 million in pretax earnings, Dr. Dre is this year's top-earning musician—thanks largely to his Beats headphone line. He leads a pack of pop stars, rock icons, rap moguls and country crooners, many of whom bank the bulk of their bucks outside the recording studio. Totals are calculated from May 2011 through May 2012.

Forbes' annual report on top-earning musicians shows Beyonce at the number three spot, earning $87 million, while her husband Jay-Z comes in at number six with $63 million. Forbes compiles the list by calculating artists' album sales, ticket sales,...

In the hall of million-dollar dead stars, Michael Jackson will be king. Jackson's estate is expected to make £120million in what is left of 2009 and he will rise to become the top-earning of dead stars. Executors for Jackson have already run up £60million from merchandising contracts and the Sony Pictures movie of his recent rehearsal footage.

The Material Girl raked in $242 million in 2008, thanks to the highest-earning musical tour on the list.