Madonna Is Music's Top Earner

Madonna Is Music's Top Earner, Says Billboard - Madonna has been named the biggest money maker in the music industry - with her world tour helping her take home almost \$34.6m (£23m) last year.

Billboard Magazine's annual list of 40 top money makers put the 54-year-old Material Girl top for the second time in five years.

It said she earned an estimated \$32m (£21m) - more than 90% of her revenue - from her 88-date MDNA tour, which was the biggest tour of 2012.

Madonna, who also led the list in 2008 due to her tour income, was the only woman in the top 10.

Taylor Swift, who took the top spot last year, fell to 15th place as she has not been touring recently.

In second place in the music magazine's list was Bruce Springsteen, whose \$33.4m (£22m) was also mainly driven by touring, playing to sold-out stadiums and arenas.

Springsteen, who also released his number-one album Wrecking Ball last year, earned 92% of his revenue from live shows where strong merchandise sales also boosted takings.

Pink Floyd's Roger Waters came a distant third with earnings of \$21m (£13.9m) largely from The Wall Live tour.

Van Halen were fourth with \$20m (£13.2m) after touring in support of their album A Different Kind Of Truth.

Country music veteran Kenny Chesney, the Dave Matthews Band, country stars Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean, and Coldplay came next on the list.

Justin Bieber was 10th, earning almost \$16m (£10.6m), of which about \$10m (£6.6m) came from his sold-out Believe arena tour.

"The entire Top 10 averaged 84.2% of their income from concerts," said Billboard.

"The number would have been higher if not for Justin Bieber's mere 60.1% share at No 10 dragging down the average."

However, touring was not vital for every act on the list.

Adele took the year out after having a baby, but still banked nearly \$14m (£9.2m), putting her 11th in the rankings, due to continuing strong sales for her album 21.

Taylor Swift earned \$12.7m (£8.4m) after selling the most digital tracks in 2012.

She sold more than three million digital albums and 15.6 million digital songs driven by her hit We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. ( Sky News )