Forbes released a 2017 celebrity 100 list of the World's highest-paid entertainers worldwide with Sean Diddy Combs at the top on $130 million in earnings. Then Beyoncé Knowles, then J.K Rowling.
However as we're more interested in stuff in Europe we'll look back at the list of top-earning European celebrities for the period between June 2015 and June 2016, and the list is as varied as the continent.Earning are pretax while fees for agents, managers and lawyers are not deducted.
From rock star, tennis champion, chef, actor, the European top-earning celebrities made a total of $697.5 million, they are all from different generations and all over Europe.
After making $200 million on their On the Road Again tour, apart from the endorsement deals with Pepsi and Colgate, One Direction tops the list of European celebrities that have earned more money in 2016. But that's not all. They are also the top earning band in the world and the highest-paid among all front-of-camera celebrities. But they pop celeb that made more money than them in the world was... drumroll please... Taylor Swift, who topped the global list with $170 million.
After five decades on the run, The Rolling Stones have proved that they are legendary band capable of earning big by going on tour and playing stadium shows. They made $66.5 million last year.
British music is still going strong.
Paul McCartney, who used to be a member of the legendary band The Beatles, earned $56.5 million.
And lastly, U2, along with The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney, prove that legendary musicians can still survive in this day and age where House music and Electro are taking over. The Irish band earned $55 million.
With One Direction's Harry Styles being 22 and Rolling Stones' drummer, Charlie Watts, being 75, it is clear that British music doesn't discriminate according to age, and British musicians are topping the list of highest-earning celebrities, with Scottish DJ Calvin Harris and British composer-artist Adele featuring on the list.
The rise of dance music has been astronomical in the last three years and I happened to be in the right place at the right time, Harris told Forbes. He went from being a grocery stockboy to becoming the world's highest-paid DJ with a $63 million payday.
Even though a range of other female musicians top the list of highest earning celebrities in the world - Taylor Swift made $170 million, Madonna ($76.5 million) and Rihanna ($75 million), Adele is the only woman on the European list. She actually topped Harris' total with $80.5 million.While other top-earning musicians made most of their money from tours, Adele made most of her money from music sales from her album 25.
Apart from the music business, sport is another industry that generates most money. The top-earning athletes include Cristiano Ronaldo ($88 million), Roger Federer ($68 million) and Novak Djokovic ($56 million). While the Serbian Djokovic ranks higher than the Swiss Federer, the latter made more money than the former thanks to endorsement deals with Nike, Rolex, Mercedes-Benz and Credit Suisse. This is also the way that Ronaldo makes makes it to the list of highest-earning celebrities, with endorsement deals from Nike, Tag Heuer, Sacoor Brothers suits and Monster headphones.