Taylor Swift Is Rich Beyond Her ‘Wildest Dreams'

Taylor Swift Is Rich Beyond Her ‘Wildest Dreams'

Pop music star Taylor Swift is rich, likely beyond her “Wildest Dreams.”

Forbes magazine lists the highest-paid celebrities¹ each year. It puts the singer-songwriter at the top of its 2016 list. It says Swift earned an estimated $170 million in the last twelve months.

Swift beat out British group One Direction this year by about $60 million, says the magazine. The boy band is in the number two position.

Other singer-songwriters on the list included Adele, who placed 9th with $80.5 million.

Madonna came in at 12 with $76.5 million.

Rihanna was next with $75 million.

Katy Perry’s $41 million was only enough to get her to the 63rd place. She was number three in the 2015 Forbes list.

Reality television star Kim Kardashian, who is on the cover of the magazine, rated 42nd with $51 million. Fourty percent of her earnings² came from her mobile game, “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.”

Taylor Swift is expected to launch a mobile game of her own next year.

A couple of athletes were among the top ten highest paid celebrities. Can you guess which sport they represent?

Yes…soccer players both. Real Madrid player Cristiano Ronaldo is tied for fourth place with $88 earned.

Coming in at number eight is Lionel Messi with $81 million. Messi, who plays for Barcelona, was sentenced in July to a 21-month prison term in Spain. The Argentinian had been found guilty of cheating on his taxes.

Messi is not expected to serve any of the time in prison, however, as the sentence was suspended. He did have to pay fines.

Several broadcast media stars were also in the top ten of Forbes richest celebrities list. The entertainer who ties with Ronaldo for fourth place is television star, Phil McGraw. McGraw hosts the wildly popular “Dr. Phil,” a mental health talk show.

Radio and television star Howard Stern³ is number eight and political commentator⁴ Rush Limbaugh closes the list out at number 10.

The other two places in the top ten belong to a book writer and a comedian⁵. James Patterson’s many fictions have sold hundreds of millions of copies around the world. Forbes says the author made $95 million over the last 12 months. He is number three on the richest celebrities list.?

Funnyman Kevin Hart is number six. Forbes says he is the first comedian to earn more than his colleague, Jerry Seinfeld. The magazine reports Hart’s earnings at $87.5 million.

Now, that is some serious funny money.

Words in This Story

celebrity⁶ - n. a person who is famous?

host -? v. to lead on-air a television or radio show

comedian -? n. a person who performs in front of an audience and makes people laugh by telling jokes or funny stories or by acting⁷ in a way that is funny : an actor who plays roles that make people laugh?

fiction -? n. written stories about people and events that are not real : literature that tells stories which are imagined by the writer?

colleague -? n. a person who works with you, or in the same business

1 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

2 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

3 stern   

adj.严厉的，严格的，严峻的；n.船尾

参考例句：

• The ship was in a blaze from stem to stern.整艘船从头到尾都着火了。
• The headmaster ruled the school with a stern discipline.校长治校严谨。

4 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

5 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

6 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

7 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。