Madonna - Madonna named music's biggest money maker

Madonna named music's biggest money maker

Madonna was music's biggest earner in 2012.

The 'Girl Gone Wild' singer topped Billboard's list of money makers, taking home $34.5 million from her 88-date MDNA World Tour, also the highest grossing live tour of the year.

Madonna, 54, narrowly beat rocker Bruce Springsteen to take the crown with 93.5% of her earnings coming from the tour, which made her a reported $32 million from a $305 million gross. The star earned an additional $1.5 million for physical and digital sales of her latest studio album of the same name, which topped the album charts in the UK and US.

Her nearest rival, Bruce, earned $33.4 million, also mainly from touring. Others to make the top ten included former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters with $21 million, Coldplay with $17 million and Justin Bieber with $16 million.

Many of the acts' millions came from their respective tours, but record sales made a significant sum for some artists, including Taylor Swift and Adele.

'Skyfall' hitmaker Adele was the 11th biggest earner of 2012, taking home $14 million for the continued success of her worldwide smash second album, '21', despite a lack of touring or promotion from the artist, who settled down and started a family.

Taylor, who topped the list in 2011, fell to 15th place as she didn't tour but still made $12.6 million based on record-selling, advertising and sponsorship deals. The singer sold three million physical copies and over a million digital copies of fourth studio album, 'Red', and a staggering 15.6 million digital copies of tracks 'I Knew You Were Trouble' and 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together'.

Billboard's top 10 musical earners of 2012:

1. Madonna ($34.5m)

2. Bruce Springsteen ($33.4m)

3. Roger Waters ($21.1m)

4. Van Halen ($20.1m)

5. Kenny Chesney ($19.1m)

6. Dave Matthews Band ($18.9m)

7. Tim Mcgraw ($18.3m)

8. Jason Aldean ($17.5m)

9. Coldplay ($17.3m)

10. Justin Bieber ($15.9m)