Country Stars Make the ‘Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Celebrity List

Taylor Swift’s RED Tour. Photo: Getty

By: Laura Hostelley

Each year Forbes magazine compiles a list of the world’s most powerful celebrities. The list is created by taking into consideration the earnings, press mentions and social-media reach of over 200 celebrities. Three Country superstars have earned a spot in the 2014 compilation, including Taylor Swift, Toby Keith and Kenny Chesney.

The 24-year-old Swift had her highest earnings to date with $64 million, giving her fifth appearance on the list, this time at the No. 18 spot. Her earnings largely come from the Red tour, which had 37 dates during the eligibility period, as well as recent endorsements with Keds, Diet Coke and CoverGirl.

Keith impacts the list at No. 51, earning $65 million in the past year. Keith’s wealth doesn’t come from solely from his music, but largely from his business ventures such as his own label, Show Dog-Universal, his chain of I Love This Bar and Grill restaurants, as well as his endorsement with Ford.

Chesney comes in at No. 71 this year, and earned $44 million during the eligibility period. He may have only played 29 shows during the scoring period, but crowds exceeded 30,000 at each of those dates. He is currently in the studio working on his latest project The Big Revival,  which is scheduled to be released Sept. 23.

At the top of the rankings this year is R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles who earned $115 million between the eligibility period of June 1, 2013-May 31, 2014. In the past year Knowles released her self-titled album Beyonce with almost no press coverage and embarked on her first world tour with husband Jay-Z.