Madonna was music's biggest earner in 2012.

 

The 'Girl Gone Wild' singer topped Billboard's list of money makers, taking home $34.5 million from her 88-date MDNA World Tour, also the highest grossing live tour of the year.

 

Madonna, 54, narrowly beat rocker Bruce Springsteen to take the crown with 93.5% of her earnings coming from the tour, which made her a reported $32 million from a $305 million gross. The star earned an additional $1.5 million for physical and digital sales of her latest studio album of the same name, which topped the album charts in the UK and US.

 

Her nearest rival, Bruce, earned $33.4 million, also mainly from touring. Others to make the top ten included former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters with $21 million, Coldplay with $17 million and Justin Bieber with $16 million.

 

Many of the acts' millions came from their respective tours, but record sales made a significant sum for some artists, including Taylor Swift and Adele.

 

'Skyfall' hitmaker Adele was the 11th biggest earner of 2012, taking home $14 million for the continued success of her worldwide smash second album, '21', despite a lack of touring or promotion from the artist, who settled down and started a family.

 

Taylor, who topped the list in 2011, fell to 15th place as she didn't tour but still made $12.6 million based on record-selling, advertising and sponsorship deals. The singer sold three million physical copies and over a million digital copies of fourth studio album, 'Red', and a staggering 15.6 million digital copies of tracks 'I Knew You Were Trouble' and 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together'.

 

 

 

Billboard's top 10 musical earners of 2012:

 

 

 

1. Madonna ($34.5m)

 

2. Bruce Springsteen ($33.4m)

 

3. Roger Waters ($21.1m)

 

4. Van Halen ($20.1m)

 

5. Kenny Chesney ($19.1m)

 

6. Dave Matthews Band ($18.9m)

 

7. Tim McGraw ($18.3m)

 

8. Jason Aldean ($17.5m)

 

9. Coldplay ($17.3m)

 

10. Justin Bieber ($15.9m)

 

 

(Bang Showbiz)