Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton Earn Spots on Forbes’ List of Highest-Paid Celebrities

Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton have hit the charts again — Forbes‘ chart, that is. The two country stars were the only members of their genre to earn sports on Forbes‘ 2020 list of the Top 100 World’s Highest-Paid Celebrities, clocking in at No. 62 and No. 70, respectively. Bryan earned a hefty $45.5 million and Shelton trailed close behind with $43.5 million.

Both Bryan and Shelton share a number of similar attributes that helped nab them a spot on the list. They’re two of country music’s biggest names and tour to large-capacity crowds, they both own bars on Nashville’s Lower Broadway and they both serve as a judge on popular primetime singing competitions. Shelton has been judging The Voice since its premiere in 2011 and Bryan has been part of the judging panel on American Idol since the show’s reboot in 2018. Shelton earns an estimated $13 for his gig on The Voice while Bryan earns an estimated $13 million for Idol. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, Shelton was on the road on his Friends and Heroes Tour, where he earned just shy of $1 million per city. Bryan has postponed his Proud to Be Right Here Tour due to the pandemic but was earning an average gross of more than $1 million per city.

This year, the 100 highest-paid celebrities earned a collective $6.1 billion, a $200 million drop from last year likely due to the coronavirus pandemic. 2020’s top earners were in-laws Kylie Jenner and Kanye West​, who took home $590 million and $170 million, respectively. They were followed by three athletes — tennis player Roger Federer and soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi — with producer Tyler Perry, Brazilian soccer player Neymar, radio personality Howard Stern, NBA star LeBron James and actor Dwayne Johnson rounding out the Top 10. In 2019, Bryan and Zac Brown Band were the only two country artists on the list, and in 2018, Bryan made the list again along with Kenny Chesney and Garth Brooks. Seven country artists made the chart in 2017 including Bryan, Brooks, Chesney, Dolly Parton, Toby Keith, Florida Georgia Line and Jason Aldean.