Two Australian acts have appeared in Billboard‘s list of music’s top earners of 2015. The list was topped by pop juggernaut Taylor Swift, who beat out other big-time stars like Adele and One Direction with a total revenue of $73.5 million.
Swift’s massive 1989 World Tour, which included stops across Australia and included highly publicised cameo appearances by a range of musicians and celebrities, brought in $61.7 million, with the rest of the sum made up of publishing royalties.
Swift handily beat country star Kenny Chesney, who came in at number two with a comparatively meagre $39.8 million, just over half of what Swift took in. Chesney was followed by The Rolling Stones ($39.6M), Billy Joel ($31.7M), and One Direction ($24.2M).
Homegrown stars AC/DC and 5 Seconds of Summer came in at #24 and #30 respectively. AC/DC’s might catalog, higher royalty rate, and strong record sales brought in considerable non-touring revenue totalling $4.5 million – almost half of their revenue.
Meanwhile, 5 Seconds of Summer brought in a very respectable $8.3 million in 2015 thanks to their healthy record sales. The outfit sold 496,000 albums and almost 1.6 million tracks, however streams were unexpectedly low at just 347,000.
Check out the full list below or head on over to Billboard.
Billboard’s Top Money-Makers List of 2015
1. Taylor Swift, $73.5M
2. Kenny Chesney, $39.8M
3. The Rolling Stones, $39.6M
4. Billy Joel, $31.7M
5. One Direction, $24.2M
6. Grateful Dead & Company, $23.8M
7. Luke Bryan, $23.1M
8. U2, $21.8M
9. Adele, $20.5M
10. Maroon 5, $19.2M
11. Jason Aldean, $18.9M
12. Shania Twain, $14.4M
13. Dave Matthews Band, $14.1M
14. Madonna, $12.7M
15. Elton John, $12.4M
16. Rush, $12M
17. Ed Sheeran, $11.6M
18. Juan Gabriel, $11.6M
19. Florida Georgia Line, $11.5M
20. Fleetwood Mac, $11.3M
21. Neil Diamond, $11.1M
22. Britney Spears, $10.6M
23. Eric Church, $10.1M
24. AC/DC, $10.0M
25. Celine Dion, $9.3M
26. Bette Midler, $9.1M
27. J. Cole, $8.8M
28. The Weeknd, $8.6M
29. Ariana Grande, $8.3M
30. 5 Seconds Of Summer, $8.3M
31. Sam Smith, $7.5M
32. Drake, $7.4M
33. Paul McCartney, $7.1M
34. Charlie Wilson, $6.9M
35. Brad Paisley, $6.8M
36. Imagine Dragons, $6.7M
37. Marc Anthony, $6.5M
38. Toby Keith, $6.5M
39. Nicki Minaj, $6.3M
40. Romeo Santos, $6.1M
