Forbes Celebrity 100 list: Taylor Swift, One Direction and James Patterson top list of highest-paid individuals

Taylor Swift has topped this year’s Forbes annual celebrity 100 list and has been crowned the highest-earning celebrity in the world.

The pop star pulled in $170m (£129.4m) over the past year, outpacing her rival Katy Perry who was last year’s highest-paid musician. Swift’s 1989 album sold more than 5 million units in the US alone and was followed by a massively successful world tour.

One Direction’s combined earnings came in second place, with the band estimated to be worth $110m (£84.7m).

American thriller author James Patterson, was in third place with $95m (£72.3m). Patterson, who is best known for his novels about fictional psychologist Alex Cross, has sold more than 300 million copies of his books and holds the Guinness World Record for being the first person to sell one million e-books.

TV personality Dr Phil McGraw, who hosts popular talk show Dr Phil, and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo came at joint number four with $88m (£66.9m). They are followed by Kevin Hart, who has earnings of $87.5m, at number seven. The comedian, who is best known for his role in Scary Movie, has filled venues throughout the year and is the first comedian to out-earn Jerry Seinfeld.

Radio host and self-proclaimed “king of media” Howard Stern came at number seven with $85m (£64.5), while Argentine soccer sensation Lionel Messi arrived at number eight on the list with $81.5m (£62m).

Adele was listed at number nine with $80.5m (£62m) after her phenomenally successful album 25. Conservative radio host and political commentator Rush Limbaugh, who is one of the most listened to radio hosts in the US, came in at number ten with $79m (£60m).

The world’s 100 highest-paid celebrities amassed a total of $5.1 billion (£3.9bn) in pretax earnings over the past 12 months, more than the combined GDP of Belize, Gambia and Bhutan.

Forbes ranks talent across the entire entertainment world in order to analyse the income of the world's richest celebrities. They compile the data using figures from IMDB, Nielsen, Pollstar, Box Office Mojo, Songkick and trawl through interviews with those on the list and industry figures.