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Lady Gaga, Bon Jovi the top 40 money makers in music in 2011

Billboard has posted an interesting list of the top 40 money makers in the American music industry in 2011, which compiles data from 2010. Topping the list at over 40 million dollars is Lady Gaga, with Bon Jovi not too far behind. According to the report:

“In past years, Billboard's Money Makers rankings were based on U.S. recorded-music sales, other U.S. revenue sources and worldwide touring data. In order to be as consistent as possible, this year's list is based solely on U.S. earnings-which explains why acts like U2, AC/DC and Metallica, which spent much of 2010 touring international markets, aren't included in this ranking.

Still, the importance of touring varied sharply among those included on our list. Bon Jovi, which had the top-grossing U.S. tour of 2010, earned more than 90% of its total annual income on the road. At the other end of the spectrum, Susan Boyle generated most of her income from music sales. (She didn't tour the United States last year.) Eminem also did little stateside touring.

Our rankings take into consideration how much each artist earned from a wide range of income sources. In other words: We're looking here at closely estimated take-home pay. Net, not gross. The categories: touring; sales of physical albums, digital albums and digital tracks; tethered music downloads; on-demand music streams; noninteractive streams; and video streams. We compiled data on these categories for 2010, defined as the calendar year for Billboard Boxscore; and as the 52-week period ended Jan. 2, 2011, for Nielsen SoundScan data.”

Other interesting spots on the list include the late Michael Jackson (#37 at $4,766,283), Muse (#34, $5,812,629) and the cast of Glee (#28, $8,830,710). ​The 2012 list, which takes into account revenue from 2011, is topped by Taylor Swift ($35,719,902) Check it out here and let us know what you think in the comments.