If you feel like any year that Taylor Swift drops an album, the singer becomes tirelessly omnipresent, you’re correct. Even she recognizes this, and is admittedly fatigued by it, telling NME earlier this year, “I think I should take some time off. I think people might need a break from me.” But you can still look to the numbers for proof of her ubiquity.
Billboard recently released its Money Makers list, ranking and revealing the highest paid musicians of the last 12 months, and Swift topped the chart having earned $73.5 million in revenue through a combination of sales, streaming, publishing, and touring.
Dissecting the four profit-making sources even further, and providing more proof to her Midas touch, Swift came in at #1 in Touring (beating out the likes of acts with 30-plus more years in the industry than she, including the Rolling Stones and U2), #1 in Publishing, and #2 in Sales, bowing only to the equally-pervasive Adele.
Where Swift didn’t rank within the Top 10, however, was Streaming, a category largely populated by hip-hop acts. As the primary revenue driver of the record business these days, it was Drake who maneuvered and mastered the music-playing medium, taking the top spot with $2.3 million in earnings. Fetty Wap, Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, and Wiz Khalifa rank alongside him.
But despite Drake’s win, a fellow Torontonian’s presence can’t be ignored. Making appearances in the Top 10 of the Streaming, Sales, and Publishing charts, it’s the Weeknd who proved his versatility in money-making this year—and the one Swift should probably watch out for.