It has been revealed that the young country music star Taylor Swift has beaten Lady Gaga in earnings during 2011. Figures released have named the top earners in the music industry. Not only was the 22 year old singer the biggest female artist earner, she even came out overall top with a whopping 35 million dollars.

Classic rockers, U2 were second in place after their tour, Kenny Chesney was third, Lady Gaga was fourth and Lil Wayne came in 5th.

These latest figures are quite interesting, many would consider pop sensation Lady Gaga to be in pole position earning wise, with her great following and extreme shows, yet a more modest Tylor Swift shows up top. This can only highlight the sheer popularity of country music today. However Taylor Swift does do a good job of making country music appeal to the younger generation with her catchy music. She also wrote all 14 tracks of her quadruple-platinum album 'Speak Now' gaining full royalties from the songs. This would suggest why some of the artists are not pulling is as much revenue if they have not written the material all themselves.

Lady Gaga's sold 2.8million albums of the highly successful Born This Way, however her earnings would of been effected because her tour ended in May. Since then shes been a little quiet. Gaga topped the list last year and was not far off doing it again.

Rapper artist Lil Wayne came in at 5th place after an eight month stint in prison for gun charges. His latest album Carter IV has been a massive success being the second best selling album.

Here is the top 10 list according to Billboard.com:

1) Taylor Swift

$35,719,902

2) U2

$32,116,315

3) Kenny Chesney

$29,837,103

4) Lady Gaga

$25,353,039

5) Lil Wayne

$23,178,722

6) Sade

$16,382,809

7) Bon Jovi

$15,835,856

8) Celine Dion

$14,261,515

9) Jason Aldean

$13,409,011

10) Adele

$13,081,909

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