How Did Bette Midler Beat Beyonce on Billboard’s Top Musicians List?!?

Taylor Swift recently placed #1 on Billboard‘s latest ranking of the “Top Money-Makers” in music list for 2015. With a legit take of $73.5 million in 2015, Taylor Swift has definitely earned her spot on the earnings list. But while celebrity gossip sites fawn over T-Swift, as per usual, here’s a tip for urban news sites and black celeb gossip writers everywhere…
If you read the rest of the list, you’ll notice that Billboard made some truly inexcusable omissions. Specifically, how the hell did Bette Midler beat out Beyonce Knowles, who didn’t even appear on the list at all? So far most black celeb gossip sites have said exactly nothing about the snub, even though Beyonce has the Instagram that launched a thousand news articles. Every time Queen Bey steps out of the house she gets new headlines from black celeb gossip sites, but this entertainment news has flown below the radar, at least so far.
So how did the Billboard list manage to exclude both Jay Z and Beyonce this year? It’s not because they didn’t earn a spot on the list. Drake appeared at number 32 with $7.4 million, while Nicki Minaj came in at 39 with $6.3 million.
Let’s do some quick math. Thanks to Tidal, Jay Z now has an estimated net worth of $610 million, while his wife Beyonce made an estimated $54.5 million in 2015 alone. That number should have placed her at number two on the Billboard list for 2015, in between Taylor Swift and Kenny Chesney. Should we be surprised that an entertainment news site honored Taylor Swift but not Queen Bey? Maybe, considering how much Beyonce dominates the current news cycle.
So how did Jay Z and Beyonce get left of the Billboard list of top earning musicians? You’ve got to read the fine print, which hides this important caveat: “Revenue from merchandising, synchronization and sponsorship is not included.”
While Taylor Swift makes millions from her album sales and touring, Beyonce and Jay Z make money from their respective business empires. Despite negative press from black celeb gossip sites (and its own users), Tidal has made Jay Z tons of money already, while Beyonce has sponsorships, endorsements and clothing lines like IVY PARK to her name. Still, in just 19 “On The Run” concerts in 2015 hip hop’s first couple earned more than $100 million, which should have placed them on Billboard’s list, easily.
Once again, Taylor Swift has somehow beat out Queen Bey, and this time Kanye has nothing to say about it, nor do the black celeb gossip sites that normally stick to Beyonce like glue.