Lady Gaga Earned $90 Million In Year's Time, Leading Women In Music

Lady Gaga's latest music video, for "Marry the Night," juxtaposes her desperate pre-fame years with high-concept, high priced art and fashion work, and it makes for a nice metaphor for her meteoric rise. Just a singer in a bar a few years back, Gaga has reached the top of the music industry, with Forbes announcing that she led all women musicians with $90 million in earnings from May 2010-May 2011.

The singer, who so often dominates iTunes and makes myriad public appearances, toured on her worldwide Monster Ball Tour for the duration of the year period. That produced a huge chunk of her revenue, as did sales for her album "The Fame Monster," which, though it came out in November 2009, held strong to sell over five million copies worldwide (and counting). Sales of her most recent album, "Born This Way," do not count in the total, as it was released in late May, 2011.

Following Gaga on the list of women performers are Taylor Swift, who made $45 million, and Katy Perry, who followed right behind with $44 million. Adele took in $18 million, though that only includes a few months of sales for her smash hit album, "21."

Forbes produces their numbers, which are pre-tax and do not subtract for manager's fees, with help from "data from Pollstar, RIAA and others, as well as extensive interviews with industry insiders including lawyers, managers, concert promoters, agents and, in some cases, the musicians themselves."