It may come as a surprise to some, but rapper turned businessman P Diddy was the world’s top earner on Forbes’ list of the 100 highest-paid celebrities in the past year, edging out Beyonce.
Diddy earned $130 million (£104.5m) in the past 12 months, of which $70 million (£56m) came from selling a one-third stake in his Sean John clothing line.
Diddy – whose real name is Sean Combs and earlier in his career was known as Puff Daddy – is estimated to be worth a total of $820 million even though he has released little music in the past decade.
But he has pursued a variety of business interests and last year headlined a North American arena tour with other artists on his Bad Boy Records label.
Last year’s top earner, pop star Taylor Swift, dropped to 49th place.
The singer brought in $44million (£32.3m), down from $170million (£137.5m) – but she hasn’t toured or released an album since 2015.
“I’ve never met anyone that works harder than me in my industry,” Beyoncé told the magazine in 1999, which must be true – as she took home $105 million (£84.4m) to secure second place, after her lucrative Formation tour, an elaborately staged set of performances that followed her Lemonade album.
Beyonce, who is expecting twins, is estimated to be worth $1 billion with her husband, rap mogul Jay Z, who himself was number 55 on the list.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who published a series of e-books last year, came in third at $95 million (£76m), making her the highest-paid celebrity outside of music.
She narrowly edged out Canadian hip-hop star Drake, Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and Canadian R&B singer The Weeknd.
Guns N’ Roses entered the list at number 11, earning $84 million (£67.9m), after key members Axl Rose and Slash reunited for the first time in 23 years.
The few non-Western celebrities on the list included Hong Kong martial arts film legend Jackie Chan at number 39 and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan at 65.
The World’s Highest-Paid Entertainers 2017 in full
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