Highest Paid Celebrities Of 2013

From the annual ranking just issued by Forbes:

Madonna‘s latest album, MDNA, was a flop. Her 12th studio album, Madonna sold fewer than 1 million copies of MDNA in the U.S. and the singles, like “Give Me All Your Luvin,” failed to impress on the pop music scene. But the tour that the Material Girl launched to go along with her new album was a spectacular success. Fans didn’t flock to stadium and spend upwards of $100 per ticket to hear Madonna’s latest stuff. They went to hear hits like “Vogue,” “Like a Virgin” and “Lucky Star.” The tour grossed $305 million and earned her the Top Touring Award at the Billboard Music Awards. Add to that strong merchandise sales, a clothing line, fragrance and investments in companies like Vita Coco and Madonna tops our list of the Highest Earning Celebrities. We estimate the pop star brought in $125 million between June 2012 and June 2013. That’s more money than Madonna has ever earned in the time we’ve been doing our Celebrity 100 list. The closest she came to $125 million was in 2009 when she earned $110 million. Madonna’s success, at age 55, just goes to show the incredible power of a successful music career.

1. Madonna — $125 million
2. Steven Spielberg — $100 million 
3. Simon Cowell — $95 million 
4. E.L. James — $95 million
5. Howard Stern — $95 million 
6. James Patterson — $91 million 
7. Glenn Beck — $90 million
8. Michael Bay — $82 million 
9. Jerry Bruckheimer — $80 million 
10. Lady Gaga — $80 million
11. Tyler Perry — $78 million 
12. Tiger Woods — $78 million 
13. Oprah Winfrey — $77 million 
14. Robert Downey Jr. — $75 million
15. Dr. Phil McGraw — $72 million 
16. Roger Federer — $71 million
17. Dick Wolf — $70 million
18. Rush Limbaugh — $66 million 
18. Toby Keith — $65 million
20. Mark Burnett — $63 million

Britain's Got Eggs

During last night's finale of Britain's Got Talent a member of the onstage orchestra left her seat to hurl eggs at Simon Cowell.

Natalie Holt, 30, stormed the stage as opera singers Richard and Adam Johnson were approaching the climax of their performance of To Dream The Impossible Dream and began pelting the music mogul. Speaking to the Telegraph she explained: “I basically took a stand against people miming on television and against Simon and his dreadful influence on the music industry". This came less than two hours after she issued an official apology in which she said that her actions were "silly". "I want to apologise to Richard and Adam for overshadowing their performance," she had said. "I’ve never done anything like this before and in hindsight I have realised it was a silly thing to do".

The show's producers cut to a long shot moments after the egging began and security rushed her off of the stage. She did reportedly hit her target at least once. The incident begins at the 1:45 mark in the clip below.

Music Stars Record For Haiti Relief

Taking advantage of those in town for the Grammys, yesterday producer Quincy Jones gathered a galaxy of pop stars for a re-recording of 1984's We Are The World. Among the 70 artists lending their voices: Beyonce, Natalie Cole, Barbra Streisand, Usher, Celine Dion, Taylor Swift, Gladys Knight, Rihanna, Harry Connick, Kayne West, Toni Braxton, LL Cool J and Wyclef Jean.

Meaning in the UK, American Idol host Simon Cowell gathered a similar group of stars for a recording of a cover of REM's Everybody Hurts. Taking part: Susan Boyle, Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams, Rod Stewart, Mariah Carey, and many others. Below is the advance audio. Both tracks will be released in the next week.

Simon Cowell Quits American Idol

Today Simon Cowell confirmed that he will leave American Idol at the end of the coming season.

Simon Cowell, the music impresario and tough-talking “American Idol” judge you love to hate, will leave “American Idol,” the Fox reality competition, after the current season, he said on Monday. Mr. Cowell made the announcement during a Fox presentation at the Television Critics Association press tour in California. Though there had been speculation about Mr. Cowell’s status with the show for several weeks, he said that he had only formally reached an agreement with Fox “at half-past-10″ this morning to bring another reality series, “The X Factor,” to the network next year. Mr. Cowell said he would leave “American Idol” to focus on that show.

No word yet on his possible replacement.