Aging rocker Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner (better known as Sting) and the band Genesis — fronted by musician Phil Collins — topped Forbes’ list of the top ten earners in the entertainment business for 2022.
Forbes revealed the list — which included several musicians and several television series creators along with a couple of film actors and directors — in an article that was published on Monday. Their 2022 hauls ranged from $88 million to $230 million.
Tenth on the list was Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, 28, who earned $88 million from two tours, a number of lucrative endorsement deals, and the movie “Bullet Train.”
Ninth was fan-favorite Taylor Swift, 33, who raked in a cool $92 million in 2022 — most of which came from sales of her older music. Swift was the only woman to make the top ten entertainment earners in 2022, and has been in the top ten six times in the past.
Director James Cameron, 68, whose long-awaited “Avatar” sequel has topped the box office for weeks, came in eighth with $95 million in earnings — driven primarily by the success of “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
The Rolling Stones brought in over $98 million from a 15-city European tour – which, according to a report from the New York Post, worked out to $8.5 million per night for bandmates Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, both of whom are 79 years old. They landed on the list at number seven.
In sixth place was 59-year-old actor Brad Pitt, who brought in $100 million in 2022 thanks to the majority sale of his Plan B production company along with several film projects, including “Bullet Train” and “Babylon.”
“The Simpsons” creators Matt Groening and James L. Brooks ranked fifth after securing a deal to move the series from FX to stream exclusively on Disney+ — a deal that netted them an estimated $105 million in 2022.
Fellow cartoon creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone (“South Park”) made the list at number four with $160 million stemming from a Paramount deal, an HBOMax deal, and their hit musical/comedy, “The Book of Mormon.”
Number three was writer, director, producer, and actor Tyler Perry — who brought in an estimated $175 million from a number of different projects.
Sting landed in the number two spot after inking a deal to sell his entire music catalog — both as a solo artist and with his band The Police — to Universal Music Group. His 2022 haul topped $210 million.
Genesis, fronted by Phil Collins, took the top spot with $230 million in 2022 earnings thanks to the sale of most of his catalog to Concord Music Group.