Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Tops Forbes List of Highest-Paid Actors

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has officially topped the list of top-earning celebrities published annually by Forbes.

The magazine’s latest issue included a list of the entertainers raking in the most money these days. In a week where many were starting to doubt Johnson’s star power thanks to the lackluster box office performance of his new movie, Skyscraper, this report shows that it would take more than one bad movie to unseat him.

Overall, Johnson holds the number four spot on the list, though he is the highest paid actor on it. Floyd Mayweather sits at the very top thanks to his highly lucrative fight with Conor McGregor last summer. George Clooney is the runner-up, though this year his fortunes come from the sale of his Tequila company, Casamigos, and not from acting. Kylie Jenner comes in at number three, with Judge Judy Sheindlin hot on her heels.

Finally, Johnson made it as number five on the list. He reportedly brought home a total of $124 million before taxes, almost all of it from his appearances in blockbuster movies.

The income is counted between June 1 of 2017 and June 1 of 2018. During that time, Johnson appeared in his HBO series Ballers, as well as an episode of the series Lifeline. He also made Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Rampage, and lent his voice to the WWE 2K18 video game. Many of his biggest recent titles, including Baywatch, the Fate of the Furious and Moana all came out before the June 1.

“The number one goal is to create stuff for the world,” Johnson told the outlet in an interview. In this, he counted his prolific work on social media. Johnson has the unique kind of interesting yet relatable persona that makes him wildly successful online. The best example of this is Instagram, where he often films videos of himself speaking to his followers from the gym.

“Social media has become the most critical element of marketing a movie for me,” Johnson admitted. “I have established a social media equity with an audience around the world that there’s a value in what I’m delivering to them.”

Of course, Johnson still uses the usual avenues of promotion, including talk shows and ads, but he believes the foundation of social media makes that much more effective. Because fans feel like they have constant access to Johnson, it’s as if they know him on a personal level, so they relate to him more than many other smiling celebrities.