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Artist News
U2 are rock’s biggest earners
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 19 July 2010
U2 were the biggest rock earners of the last twelve months, according to Forbes.com, who track these things for fun. According to the US website, Bono et al raked in $130 million in the last year, despite the band having to put their touring activity on hold in recent months after Pauly did his back in.
Other music types to appear in the Forbes list of big earners were AC/DC, Beyonce, Springsteen, Britney, Jay-Z, Gaga, Madonna, Kenny Chesney, Black Eyed Peas and Coldplay; and if you ever wondered what that list would look like presented as a chart, well, wonder no more, because here it is:
1. U2: $130m (£84.9m)
2. AC/DC: $114m (£74.5m)
3. Beyonce Knowles: $87m (£56.8m)
4. Bruce Springsteen: $70m (£45.7m)
5. Britney Spears: $64m(£41.8m)
6. Jay-Z: $63m (£41.1m)
7. Lady Gaga: $62m (£40.5m)
8. Madonna: $58m (£37.9m)
9. Kenny Chesney: $50m (£32.6m)
10. Black Eyed Peas/Coldplay: $48m (£31.3m)
Commenting on the Forbes poll, Paul ‘Bono’ Hewson told reporters: “We’d like to thank our fans for putting over a hundred and thirty million dollars into the U2 pot this year, this means Adam can eat as many Snickers bars as he likes, Larry can buy a new basket for his cat, The Edge can commission a brand new hat and I’ll be able buy $129,999,917 worth of Deep Heat. Now if you could all just hand over another $130 million to make poverty history, we won’t have to”. Well, that’s the sort of thing he might have said.
