Lady Gaga Leads Forbes' 2011 Top-Earning Women in Music List With $90 Million

2:02 PM PST 12/15/2011 by David Greenwald, Billboard

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The “Marry the Night” singer more than doubled the estimated earnings of both Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.

She may not have been born this way, but Lady Gaga was pop's top-earning woman in 2011.

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According to Forbes, Lady Gaga earned $90 million from album sales, touring and endorsements -- double the estimated earnings of Taylor Swift and Katy Perry, who made $45 million and $44 million, respectively. In Gaga context, that's over $5 for each of the pop provocateur's nearly 17 million Twitter followers, or $2 a piece for her Facebook little monsters.

The numbers reflect earnings between May 2010 and 2011.

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That calendar means Adele, who notched $18 million and ninth place with only a few months of record-keeping for her chart-ruling 21, may be tough competition for Mother Monster in 2012.

Rounding out the top 10 list was Beyonce ($35 million), Rihanna ($29 million), Pink ($22 million), Carrie Underwood ($20 million), Celine Dion ($19 million) and Britney Spears, who tied with Alicia Keys at $10 million for the No. 10 spot.

Overall, U2 was Forbes' top act in music, with the band notching $195 million.