Professional boxers Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao have placed first and second in Forbes Magazine's Annual List of the World's Highest Paid Celebrities from May 2014 to May 2015.
Mayweather, who won their much-awaited "Fight of the Century" by unanimous decision last May 2, earned $300 million while Pacquiao took home $160 million. Their bout, which gained extensive media coverage and was telecast live worldwide, generated a record 4.4 million Pay Per View Purchases.
Singer Katy Perry placed third with $135 million, making her the world's wealthiest female entertainer. According to Forbes, Perry performed in 124 shows as part of her Prismatic World Tour. Various news sources quoted her managers as saying 60 percent of her income came from abroad, including the 27 countries where 75 of the Prismatic World Tour shows were held.
British boy band One Direction placed fourth with $130 million while radio and TV personality Howard Stern placed fifth with $95 million. Rounding off the top 10 are singer and songwriter Garth Brooks, actors James Patterson and Robert Downey Jr., singer Taylor Swift and football player Cristiano Ronaldo.
According to ESPN, more than one-fourth of the persons on the list are athletes. Besides Mayweather, Pacquiao and Ronaldo, others on the list who make a living from playing sports include Lionel Messi, Roger Federer, Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Ben Roethlisberger, Rory McIlroy and Novack Djokovic.
According to Forbes, Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Scottish singer-songwriter and disc jockey Calvin Harris, placed first among Forbes' List of Highest Paid Celebrity Couples with combined annual earnings of $146 million.
They replaced singer Beyonce Knowles and her husband, rapper and record producer Jay Z, Forbes' highest paid celebrity couple in 2013, who slid down to second spot this year with combined annual earnings of $110.5 million. Placing third are singers Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton with combined annual earnings of $57 million.
