Entertainment

Where Are All The Women On The Forbes 100 List?

by Maggie Malach

Ready to find out exactly how much your fave stars are raking in? Forbes just released its annual list of the 100 highest-paid celebrities and, as expected, it's topped by many headline-making athletes and singers. (By the way, you can put your own financial status into context via this handy Wealthometer. This may or may not be a terrible idea.) One takeaway from the results of this year's list is that while the first two spots are claimed by men, Katy Perry is representing all the hard-working females out there and snagged the No. 3 slot. Still, the list is, as always, something of a boys' club.

It's not surprising, though it may be disappointing, that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao snagged the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively. After all, their May 2 earned Mayweather $300 million and Pacquiao $160 million. Just another day in the office, I suppose?

However, Perry's $135 million payday isn't too shabby, either. Forbes reports that she played 124 shows during the "scoring period," including 75 of them in other countries. The next woman to rank on the list is Taylor Swift, who tied with Robert Downey, Jr. for No. 8.

This is great news, right?

Not so fast.

Altogether, women comprise approximately 17 percent of the top 100. Se-ven-teen percent. The other women on the list are:

  • Ellen DeGeneres (No. 12)
  • Fleetwood Mac (although the whole band is listed at No. 24, two of its members are female)
  • Lady Gaga (No. 25)
  • Beyonce (No. 29)
  • Kim Kardashian (No. 33)
  • Jennifer Lawrence (No. 34)
  • Judy "Judge Judy" Sheindlin (No. 43)
  • Gisele Bundchen (No. 46)
  • Scarlett Johansson (No. 65)
  • Britney Spears (No. 82)
  • Maria Sharapova (No. 88)
  • Jennifer Lopez (No. 95)
  • Miranda Lambert (No. 95)
  • Sofia Vergara (No. 95)
  • Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting (No. 95)

Seventeen percent seems pretty small, right? (Hint: It definitely is.) I took a look back at 2014's Forbes 100 celebs list to see if anything changed from the past year. And as it turns out, 2014 was far better for celebrity ladies making bank. In fact, the number of women on the list is almost cut in half in 2015. Beyonce landed the top spot and there were 32 more women on the list:

  • Oprah Winfrey (No. 4)
  • Ellen DeGeneres (No. 5)
  • Rihanna (No. 8)
  • Katy Perry (No. 9)
  • Jennifer Lawrence (No. 12)
  • Miley Cyrus (No. 17)
  • Taylor Swift (No. 18)
  • Lady Gaga (No. 19)
  • Jennifer Lopez (No. 33)
  • Sandra Bullock (No. 36)
  • Sofia Vergara (No. 54)
  • Gisele Bundchen (No. 56)
  • Maria Sharapova (No. 63)
  • Serena Williams (No. 69)
  • Angelina Jolie (No. 73)
  • Scarlett Johansson (No. 76)
  • Jennifer Aniston (No. 77)
  • Kim Kardashian (No. 80)
  • Amy Adams (No. 81)
  • J.K. Rowling (No. 84)
  • Li Na (No. 85)
  • Gwyneth Paltrow (No. 89)
  • Kate Moss (No. 91)
  • Meryl Streep (No. 92)
  • Kerry Washington (No. 93)
  • Kate Upton (No. 94)
  • Veronica Roth (No. 95)
  • Zooey Deschanel (No. 96)
  • Cameron Diaz (No. 97)
  • Lena Dunham (No. 97)
  • Kaley Cuoco (No. 99)
  • Natalie Portman (No. 100)

There's no one clear reason why the number of women who made the list dropped by almost half between 2014 and 2015, other than, well, the cold hard truth of that cold hard cash.

However, if Swift's massive 1989 World Tour and Lawrence's incredible Passengers paycheck are any indication, women in entertainment are poised to have an amazing year and maybe the 2016 list will see the ladies bounce back in record numbers.

Images: Giphy (2)