LOS ANGELES- American boxer Floyd Mayweather was named the world’s highest-paid entertainer on Monday on a list that saw actor George Clooney take the number two spot with the highest annual pay of his career.
After naming reality star Kylie Jenner, 20, as the youngest self made billionaire in the United States last week, she came in third on the annual Forbes Celebrity 100 list, thanks to her booming cosmetics line.
Forbes created the list from estimating pre-tax earnings from June 2017-June 2018, before deducting fees for managers, based on data from Nielsen, touring trade publication Pollstar, movie database IMDB, and interviews with industry experts and celebrities themselves.
Mayweather made $280 million during that period, greatly contributed to his comeback fight against MMA fighter Conor McGregor. While actor George Clooney earned $239 million after he sold Casamigos tequila company he co-founded to British spirits company Diageo in June 2017.
Zack O’Malley Greenburg, senior entertainment editor at Forbes, said in a statement, “There’s never been a more lucrative time to be famous than now, with 11 superstars earning $100 million or more over the past year,”
“Entertainers have found all sorts of new ways to monetize their audiences, especially with the help of social media,”
Top 10 Highest-Earning Celebrities:
| 2018 Rank | Name | Category | Earnings | 2017 Rank | Country |
| 1 | Floyd Mayweather | Athlete | $285 mil | Returnee | USA |
| 2 | George Clooney | Actor | $239 mil | Returnee | USA |
| 3 | Kylie Jenner | Personality | $166.5 mil | 59 | USA |
| 4 | Judy Sheindlin | Personality | $147 mil | 43 | USA |
| 5 | Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson | Actor | $124 mil | 22 | USA |
| 6 | U2 | Musician | $118 mil | Returnee | Ireland |
| 7 | Coldplay | Musician | $115 mil | 8 | UK |
| 8 | Lionel Messi | Athlete | $111 mil | 14 | Argentina |
| 9 | Ed Sheeran | Musician | $110 mil | 71 | UK |
| 10 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Athlete | $108 mil | 5 | Portugal |
Photo Credit- Independent Newspapers Nigeria
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