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Billboard's Top Money Makers Of 2015
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The country star-turned-pop sensation added yet another milestone to her résumé in 2015 -- top earner of the year -- thanks to her 1989 World Tour, which included cameo appearances by Julia Roberts, Mick Jagger, Joan Baez and... Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade. Swift's $61.7 million in touring revenue accounted for the lion's share of her 2015 haul, but Ryan Adams' stark reinterpretation of her 1989 album also helped make her the top earner of publishing royalties.
Despite Zayn Malik's exit in early 2015, 1D raked in $19.6 million on the U.S. leg of its On the Road Again Tour. Box office eclipsed other revenue categories, but the band was the fifth-highest earner in the streaming category.
The British superstar wowed the industry the old-school way -- by moving records. She sold more than 5.5 million copies of 25, making her the top-selling act of 2015 and the only artist on the list who didn't tour.
Twain's North American Rock This Country Tour was billed as her last, but don't be surprised if she returns to the road. Her $13.8 million payday dwarfed her revenue from sales, streaming and publishing.
Always-evolving Madonna would probably bristle at the designation, but she was one of a few heritage acts on this list -- including U2, Dave Matthews Band and Elton John -- who sold more digital downloads of albums than physical copies (plus 934,000 individual tracks).
Vegas has been good for Spears. For an act without an album, she sold a respectable 923,000 digital tracks, generated 350 million streams and earned her songs $500,000-plus in publishing royalties. She reaped only $31,000 of that though, because she uses outside songwriters.
Despite having to cancel performances during her Caesars Palace residency due to the failing health (and eventual death) of her husband, Dion still rose five spots and earned $8.7 million at the box office.
Grande continued to push her 2014 album My Everything with her Honeymoon Tour, which earned $6.7 million and helped her sell 250,000 albums and 2.5 milllion digital tracks and generate 848 million streams.
In addition to four Grammy Awards for his debut, In the Lonely Hour, Smith was one of eight artists on the list to make more than $1 million in publishing royalties and sell 1 million-plus records.
Strong album sales, to the tune of 425,000 units, and impressive streaming numbers -- 1.3 billion -- fueled Minaj's year as she continued to promote 2014's The Pinkprint album and tour.
METHODOLOGY: Money Makers was compiled with Nielsen Music and Billboard Boxscore, using 2015 U.S. data only. All revenue figures cited are Billboard estimates and may not equal the sum of the subcategories due to rounding. Revenue from merchandising, synchronization and sponsorship is not included. The following royalty rates, minus a 4 percent producer's fee, were used: album and track sales, 22 percent of retail revenue; streaming revenue, 22 percent for current artists and 50 percent for heritage artists. Publishing royalties were estimated using statutory mechanical rates for album and track sales; the Copyright Royalty Board streaming formula; and an average of $2.50 per play for hit radio and 60 cents per play for heritage spins. For labels' direct deals with interactive services, blended audio and video rates of, respectively, $0.0063 and $0.0015. (A 10 percent manager's fee was deducted from each category.) Touring revenue, after the manager's cut, equals 34 percent of an act's Boxscore. The top 10 lists for sales royalties were calculated based on physical and digital albums and track sales, the streaming royalty list, track on-demand audio and video streams, and estimated royalties from webcasting, SiriusXM and Music Choice.
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http://www.billboard.com/biz/article...s-list-of-2015
Congrats to the pop girls making money. 
Broken down into different components:
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She gets 90% of the revenue yet billboard only estimates 34% for ALL artists. Invalid mess.