Kylie Jenner, Kanye West, LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo – who is the highest-paid celebrity in the world?
From shock jock radio hosts to action stars, top athletes, and even a novelist – who are the top earning celebrities and how do they remain so bankable?
Though Forbes revoked Kylie Jenner’s billionaire status less than a week ago, she still topped the publication’s new list of the highest-paid celebrities in the world.
To determine which celebrities were paid the most, Forbes looked at what each earned, pre-tax, between June 2019 and May 2020, before deducting fees for agents, lawyers and managers. The publication’s figures are sourced from Nielsen Music/MRC Data, Pollstar, IMDB, NPD BookScan, and ComScore, in addition to information gathered from interviews with industry experts as well as from the stars themselves.
Jenner’s brother-in-law Kanye West is in a fairly distant second place on the list, with US$170 million in earnings. Tennis legend Roger Federer, who was recently ranked as the world’s highest-paid athlete, follows in the third spot.
Keep reading to see the top 15 highest-paid celebrities on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, ranked in ascending order of earnings.
15. James Patterson
Source of wealth: books
Earnings: US$80 million
Patterson co-wrote the book Filthy Rich: A Powerful Billionaire, the Sex Scandal that Undid Him, and All the Justice that Money Can Buy: The Shocking True Story of Jeffrey Epstein, which has now been turned into a Netflix docuseries.
14. Elton John
Source of wealth: music
