It would be impossible to make an empirical determination about which famous people are better and more deserving than you, and by how much, unless you have hard facts about how much money they make.
Thankfully, the good people at Forbes have stepped up to the plate with a list of the Top 10 Highest-Earning Celebrities Under 30, meaning you now know how many yous a Bieber and a Miley are worth.
They collected data from between June 2013 and June 2014 to determine who done got theirs, and the results may or may not surprise you, depending on how much time you’ve spent trawling pop culture sites – like this one! – this year.
Are you ready to have your mind blown and / or your suspicions confirmed by the list? Strap in, because here we go:
1. Justin Bieber – $80 million
2. One Direction – $75 million
3. Taylor Swift – $64 million
4. Bruno Mars – $60 million
5. Rihanna – $48 million
6. Miley Cyrus – $36 million
7. Jennifer Lawrence – $34 million
8. Lady Gaga – $33 million
9. Avicii – $28 million
10. Skrillex – $11 million
For the purposes of the list, Forbes considered One Direction as a single rat king-like unit, all four of the others knotted up in the tangles of Harry Styles‘ wild hair, but even separately, their earning power would still be enough to place all of them in the Top 10.
There are a few surprises on the list – we knew Avicii’s EDM appeal was strong, but reportedly, he pulls in six figures for a club appearance, and did 80 of these alone in the scoring period.
Similarly, Bruno Mars, who has quietly become one of the most ubiquitous men in music thanks to that ‘he’s not quite Michael Jackson but I guess he’ll do’ appeal, tours non-stop, playing 118 shows during Forbes’ time frame.
They snarkily note that Bieber’s millions – minus the $80k settlement he paid after his egg-throwing incident and minus whoever else he’s secretly paying off – are largely thanks to “cash from the tail end of his last world tour.”
With a crazed look in her eye and a world tour imminent, you can probably expect to see nightmare dressed as a daydream Taylor Swift in a much higher position next year.
In summary, then:
Photo: Mark Metcalfe via Getty Images
