Kylie Jenner Earned Almost 3x More Than Beyoncé This Year

by Meghan McKenna July 17, 2018

Here’s a short list of things I regularly type into my Internet search bar: (insert celebrity) age, (insert celebrity) height and (insert celebrity) net worth. I am—and I know I’m not alone in this—obsessed with how much money celebrities make. Or, more specifically, comparing how much money one celebrity makes to how much another celebrity makes. When you’re cashing in millions, it’s all relative!

Forbes‘ 2018 “World’s Highest-Paid Celebrities” list is particularly juicy. Kylie Jenner, makeup mogul and mother of Stormi, is the woman sitting at the top of the round up. Before taxes and management fees, the youngest Kardashian/Jenner sibling racked in $166.5 million USD over the past 12 months, placing her behind only boxer Floyd Mayweather ($285 million) and actor George Clooney ($239 million).

What’s *most* interesting to me, however, is how much more the self-made almost-billionaire earned than the usual top contenders. Not only did she out-earn his sister, Kim Kardashian West ($67 million), and momager™, Kris Jenner ($34.5 million), she out-earned BEYONCÉ (!!!)—who was the woman in the top spot in 2017. Queen Bey, who headlined Coachella and charged me a fortune for tickets to her tour, made $60 million this past year, meaning she earned only 36% of what a 20-year-old who sells lip-kits made. We truly are living in crazy times. (No shade to Kylie Jenner, you’re doing great sweety.)

What’s most disappointing about this list is that lack of women on it. There are only 15 ladies among the ranks of the world’s highest-paid celebrities, a drop from last year’s 16. It’s a step up from Forbes recently released “World’s Highest-Paid Athletes” list, which didn’t included a single woman this year. Shockingly, in film, music, sports, “being famous”—and realistically, every other professional industry—the gender wage gap is alive and well.

Who else did Kylie Jenner out-earn? I’ve rounded up a select 17 people who piqued my personal interest. (Explainer: there are no athletes or 90’s rock bands in this gallery. Mostly, it’s just women. And then Ed Sheeran.) For Forbes full list of top 100 paid celebrities, click here.