WE CALL IT THE CASH MONEY

[defrog]

ITEM: Billboard has released its list of the Top 40 moneymaking artists of 2009, with figures including the artist’s take on CD/digital track sales and concerts (but excluding merchandising and sponsorships).

It’s worth reading for the methodology alone.

At #40:

Bette Midler ($9,421,947)

At #1:

U2 ($108,601,283)

The U2 figure is notable for a few reasons:

1. Their 360º tour is only halfway done.
2. Each show costs around $750,000 a pop.
3. The #2 act – The Bruce – only raked in $57,619,037.

Anyway, it’s an interesting list, albeit with few surprises – one of them being that Leonard Cohen ranked at #39, which is almost as comforting as the fact that AC/DC made the top five (which means they not only made more money than Jonas Brothers, but they also made more money than Toby Keith, Keith Urban and Brad Paisley COMBINED ... which is good to know).

Also, it’s not often you’ll see the term “Wal-mart exclusive” mentioned that many times in a list not explicitly about Wal-mart exclusive releases.

Anyway, there’s yr dying music industry for you.

Peeling off those dollar bills,

This is dF