In its latest bid to inflame class war, Forbes has published a list of the top 20 “celebrity paydays,” i.e. days during which the rich and famous got even richer, if not more famous. Most of the deals either involve real estate being flipped and/or people who first made their names during the tabloid era of the ’80s (seriously, every time I see Donald Trump’s name invoked in a positive way somewhere, I feel like we’re all living a bad We Got It Made rerun on endless loop). But! Somehow, three out of the top five spots were taken by musicians… although when you see what the source of those paydays was, you’ll realize that their musical roots were merely stepping stones on their way to big cash. No. 2 was 50 Cent, whose Vitamin Water payday netted him $100 million; No. 4 was Jay-Z, who made $82 million when he sold Roc-A-Wear; and No. 5 was Sammy Hagar, who made a cool $80 million when he sold an 80% stake in Cabo Wabo Tequila to Gruppo Campari. Madonna was at No. 8 for her $43 million Live Nation deal, although $25 million of that came in the form of stock–so there may need to be some recalculations done there. Anyway, get your class consciousness all whipped up and kick yourself for not buying that Manhattan penthouse when you could have with the full list, which is after the jump!
1. George Lucas, $200 million
2. 50 Cent, $100 million
3. Howard Stern, $82 million
4. Jay-Z, $82 million
5. Sammy Hagar, $80 million
6. Oprah Winfrey, $74 million
7. Oscar De La Hoya, $55 million
8. Madonna, $43 million
9. David Geffen, $37.5 million
10. Vera Wang, $35 million
11. Dwight Freeney, $30 million
12. Courteney Cox & David Arquette, $27 million
13. Tommy Hilfiger, $26.5 million
14. Floyd Mayweather, $25 million
15. Donald Trump, $25 million
16. Hugh Grant, $23.5 million
17. Mel Gibson, $23 million
18. Mario Lemieux, $21 million
19. Don Imus, $20 million
20. Wayne Gretzky, $18.5 million
