Who is a queen bee? A woman who has an influential, dominant, and controlling position in a given sphere. When you talk about the music scene this year, Queen Bey (Beyoncé) was the queen bee female artists, raking in more cash than any other female artist.
Forbes went out and looked at the pretax income of female artists from June 1, 2016, to June 1, 2017. In their analysis, Forbes included fees charged by the various artists’ agents, managers, and lawyers. Using the data available from Nielsen SoundScan, the RIAA, Pollstar, and interviewing the pundits in the music industry, Forbes listed the female artists who raked in the most money this year.
Beyoncé is right on top of that list, having made $105 million (pretax) and crowned the highest-paid woman in music 2017. Beyoncé’s Lemonade was a big hit with both fans and critics alike, making it her sixth solo No.1. That was later followed by her Formation World Tour, grossing in a quarter of a billion.
Adele is the second-rank Queen Bee
On the Forbes’ list, Adele finished second earning $69 million, largely attributed to her first tour since 2011. It is worth remembering that when Adele won the Grammy for the Album of the Year early this year, she broke it in half, with the intention of sharing it with Beyoncé.
Nonetheless, Adele’s music appeals to music fans of all ages and across all genres. She certainly has the powerful and emotional voice to appease any fans, coupled with excellent songwriting and music production skills.
Taylor Swift 3rd Place
Raking in $44 million this year, 2017 saw her take a big deep from the heights here 1989 Tour took her. Although her new album, Reputation, is already a hit and best-selling album 2017. The Forbes list, however, did not take the new album sales into account as it came after their period of scoring. It will count for their scoring in 2018.
Celine Dion 4th Place and Jennifer Lopez 5th
She still makes money from music despite the fact she has not released any songs in recent years. Her Las Vegas residency business seems to be lucrative. Forbes puts her pretax income for this year at $42 million.
Jennifer Lopez comes in with $38 million primarily boosted by her Sin City and World of Dance gig where she is both a judge and a producer.
Men still dominate the music industry
While female artists are making big strides in the music industry, the sector is filled with footprints of men. Men make up more than twice the number of women in top-earning artists listing.
