Katy Perry Beats Out Taylor Swift and Beyonce As Forbes' World's Richest Female Celebrity

This is how Katy Perry earned more than Taylor Swift in the last 12 months.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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On Monday, Katy Perry was named Forbes' third-highest-paid celebrity of 2015 earning $135 million over the past 12 months. Following only behind boxers Floyd Mayweather ($300 million) and Manny Pacquiao ($160 million) who both earned large one-night paydays for their highly publicized fight in May, the 30 year-old singer arrived came in like a dark horse to beat out fellow superstars including Taylor Swift ($80 million), Lady Gaga ($59 million), Beyoncé ($54.5 million) as reported and ranked by Forbes.

The reason? It might just be her success overseas. Forbes explains "Of the 124 shows she played during our June-to-June scoring period for earnings, 75 of them took place abroad, spanning 27 different countries and four continents. All in all, 60% of her total income now flows from outside of North America." There is also her unprecedented sales of merchandise on tours where she averages $20 per head per night -- four times more than the industry's average. Of course on top of her popularity overseas, the singer has been smart in negotiating business and endorsement deals of products she loves like Proactiv, CoverGirl, and Adidas instead of many, smaller deals. "I’m an entrepreneur. I don’t want to shy away from it. I actually want to kind of grab it by its balls," she told Forbes.

Katy wrote to her followers on Instagram "Before accepting the offer to be on the cover of Forbes, I was told that a lot of women have previously shied away from doing it. I wondered if it was because they thought socially it would look like they were flaunting or bragging or it wasn't a humble decision. Ladies, there is a difference between being humble and working hard to see the fruits of your labor blossom, and your dreams realized. Hopefully this cover can be an inspiration to women out there that it's okay to be proud of hard earned success and that there is no shame in being a boss. Also... don't think that I didn't celebrate this moment by going straight to Taco Bell and getting my crunch wrap supreme."

 

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