MOL
LONDON
Katy Perry has been named the highest paid female celebrity of the year, beating Taylor Swift to the top spot. Ellen DeGeneres, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé Knowles, and Kim Kardashian’s millions followed not too far behind in the women’s category - though they didn’t make it into this year’s top ten highest paid celebs which was 80 per cent male.
30-year-old Perry earned $135M over the past 12 months, according to a report published in the July 20 edition of Forbes. That number makes her not only the biggest female money-maker but also the third-highest-paid celebrity in the world this year. Only boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao managed to make more than Katy.
Over the past five years, in fact, Katy has reportedly made $303M from her music and related businesses. The singer described her success as that of an entrepreneur when talking to the magazine. Taylor Swift grabbed the second spot for highest female earner this year by making $80M, though she was only number nine out of the ten top earners. ‘I am proud of my position as a boss, as a person that runs my own company,’Perry said. ‘I don’t want to shy away from it. I actually wanted to kind of grab it by its balls.’ That attitude has served the Roar singer well, selling 11 million albums and 81 million singles since her quiet debut as Katy Hudson back in 2001. It was her second album, One Of The Boys, that brought Katy into the limelight in 2008 - she followed up that success with two more hit albums, Teenage Dream and Prism. ‘I’m not here to brag,’ Katy said of her success. ‘I’m here to inspire other females.’
She may indeed be the biggest celebrity inspiration out there, considering that Katy and her perceived rival, 25-year-old Taylor, were the only women to make the list of top-ten earners. Instead, the rest of the big money-makers were men - Howard Stern, Garth Brooks, James Patterson, Robert Downey Jr., and Christiano Ronaldo - or a group of men - One Direction.
Taking the number three spot for female earners and the number 12 spot overall, comedian and talk show host Ellen Degeneres made an impressive $75M. Claiming the number four spot for females and the number 25 place on the list is musician Lady Gaga who earned $59M. The fifth highest paid female is musician Beyonce Knowles who earns  $54.5M. She made it to number 33 on Forbes list of top 100 celebrity earners. Falling in at number six for women is personality Kim Kardashian who earns $52.5M. 
Only 16 women made it into Forbes top 100 list of highest paid earnings this year, proving that there is still a huge disparity among paychecks for female and male talent.