Swift world’s highest-paid celebrity – M.I.A. hints she will leak new album

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Jennifer Lopez performs on NBC’s ‘Today’ show at Rockefeller Plaza on July 11 in New York. (AP)
Jennifer Lopez performs on NBC’s ‘Today’ show at Rockefeller Plaza on July 11 in New York. (AP)

NEW YORK, July 12, (AFP): At the tender age of 26, Taylor Swift is the world’s highest-paid celebrity, pulling in a whopping $170 million over the past year, Forbes magazine said Monday.

The pop diva’s take from June 2015 to June 2016 is the highest total of her young career, the magazine said, more than doubling her previous record of $80 million last year.

She out-earned other famous musicians including Adele ($80.5 million), Madonna ($76.5 million), Rihanna ($75 million) and Bruce Springsteen ($60.5 million).

The “Shake It Off” singer also outpaced rival Katy Perry who was last year’s top-earning musician at $135 million, according to Forbes magazine’s annual list of 100 highest-paid celebrities.

Perry dropped to number 63 on this year’s list, earning a mere $41 million.

Swift’s huge earnings were largely thanks to her “1989 World Tour” during which she smashed the Rolling Stone’s North American record, grossing $200 million on the continent en route to a quarter of a billion worldwide, the magazine said.

Coming in at number two on the list this year was the boy band One Direction, ($110 million), followed by author James Patterson ($95 million).

Taylor’s former beau, musician Calvin Harris, also made the cut coming in at number 21 ($63 million).

“The world’s 100 highest-paid celebrities pulled in $5.1 billion pretax over the past 12 months, more than the GDP of Belize, Gambia and Bhutan combined,” Forbes said.

Magazine editor Zack O’Malley Greenberg said live entertainment continues to be a major cash draw.

“From soccer games in Spain to concerts in China, fans are willing to shell out to see big names — and this is driving the celebrity economy to ever greater heights,” he said in a statement.

On the Hollywood front, Jennifer Lawrence was the industry’s highest-paid actress for the second consecutive year, earning $46 million, a slight drop from the $52 million “The Hunger Games” star banked the year before.

Actor Dwayne Johnson wrestled the highest-paid actor spot from “Iron Man’s” Robert Downey Jr, earning $64.5 million, largely thanks to the billion-dollar “Fast and Furious” franchise and the surprising success of 2015’s “San Andreas” movie.

Many athletes also made the list, including Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo ($88 million), tennis man Roger Federer ($68 million), and German race car driver Sebastian Vettel ($41 million)

Also:

NEW YORK: The rapper M.I.A. said Monday she was ready to leak her new album, which will delve into refugee rights, saying other artists were taking her ideas.

The British-Sri Lankan hip-hop innovator announced the album almost exactly a year ago and followed up with videos but has suggested that her record label is throwing roadblocks.

“So on the verge of leaking this LP — especially when I am told to ‘fight your own battle,’ ‘not your mule,’ refugees got their platform etc,” she wrote on Twitter.

“I hate it when big American artists take from me and my work and refugee sentiments from my work before it’s released – survivor !!!” she tweeted without specifying names.

M.I.A., releasing her track “Swords” in July 2015, said that the upcoming album — her first since 2013 — would have a concept “broader than a border.”

“Swords” is full of Hindu imagery including scenes from a temple and also features a fast-paced dancer in a tutu from Ivory Coast, whom M.I.A. said she discovered on YouTube and tracked down.

Another track from the upcoming album, “Borders,” directly tackles Europe’s refugee crisis with imagery of migrants climbing fences and packed into boats.

The Paris Saint Germain soccer team filed a lawsuit against her as she appeared in the video wearing a T-shirt of the club with the slogan “Fly Emirates,” a reference to sponsor airline Emirates, changed to “Fly Pirates”.

The drama surrounding the upcoming album is not new for M.I.A. The release of her 2005 debut album, “Arular,” was repeatedly delayed due to apparent legal issues on rights to the samples.

 

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