Bollywood superstars Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan, undeniably among the country’s best actors, have also now made their mark on the Forbes annual list of 100 highest paid celebrities in the world. While Akshay makes an entry at No. 76, Salman follows him at No. 82. The world’s highest-earning celebrity, according to Forbes, is American boxer Floyd Mayweather. But strangely, Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan, a notable regular on the Forbes list, has failed to make the cut this time. SRK was No. 65 in 2017 with earnings of $38 million.
According to the list, Akshay earned $40.5 million this year. Describing the actor, Forbes said, “One of Bollywood’s leading men has transitioned to socially-conscious roles, such as Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, a comedy supporting government campaigns to improve sanitation, and PadMan, about a guy hoping to provide inexpensive sanitary pads to rural communities. He still mints millions from backend profits and endorsing some 20 brands, including Tata and Eveready.”
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For Salman, Forbes said, “This Bollywood mainstay continues to produce and star in hits such as Tiger Zinda Hai, cashing in on backend profits. Coupled with a slew of endorsements from Suzuki motorcycles to Chlormint gum, he remains one of India’s top earners.”
Mayweather, who has fought in various weight categories including super featherweight, lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight and light middleweight, tops the list with earnings of $285 million. Hollywood actor George Clooney ranks second, reality TV star and businessperson Kylie Jenner is ranked third. Football star Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, pop star Katy Perry, tennis icon Roger Federer and singers Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and Beyonce also finding a place in the list.
According to Forbes, the world’s 100 top-earning entertainers pulled in a combined $6.3 billion pretax over the past 12 months, up 22% from last year and 11 superstars crossed the $100 million threshold, more than double the number from the last two years combined. Here are the world’s 10 highest paid celebs and their earnings, according to Forbes...
- Floyd Mayweather: $285 million
- George Clooney: $239 million
- Kylie Jenner: $166.5 million
- Judy Sheindlin: $147 million
- Dwayne Johnson: $124 million
- U2: $118 million
- Coldplay: $115.5 million
- Lionel Messi: $111 million
- Ed Sheeran: $110 million
- Cristiano Ronaldo: $108 million
