Today, Billboard released its list of the highest paid musicians of 2017, which yielded results both surprising and unsurprising. You can decide which of those adjectives applies to the following fact: only 7 of the 50 are women. Lady Gaga was the sole female artist to make it into the Top 10 (#6). Taylor Swift–somewhat surprisingly, despite the fact that her Reputation tour didn’t begin until May of this year– was ranked at #48.
U2 scored the top spot on the list, thanks to the combined profits of their Joshua Tree 30th anniversary tour and their chart-topping Songs of Experience album of December, which was also included in ticket bundles for their 2018 tour. The second most staggering aging-rock-star achievement was Metallica‘s, who came in at #3. Despite landing behind Garth Brooks and Bono and the gang overall, the metal legends ranked at #1 in terms of recorded music royalties. They scored $8.7 million in sales and $2.2 million in streaming, despite not having released an album in 2017. The band were also busy with their WorldWired tour last year, which earned them an additional $30 million.
Another important fact to keep in mind: the Trans-Siberian Orchestra made more money than Drake in 2017. John Mayer is a crucial double-earner on this year’s list, since both the singer and guitarist’s Dead and Company, the Grateful Dead offshoot he fronts, and John Mayer as a solo artist landed in the high-to-mid 20s. Check out Billboard‘s full list here.