BILLBOARD ANNOUNCES TOP 50 MONEY EARNERS OF 2009

....And the vets have it. Of all the new musicians running around out there, it took three veterans to show them how it done. In at #3 is Madonna, who's Sticky and Sweet tour was the highest grossing EVER by a solo artist. Along with her music licensing and merchandising, Madge took in $47,273,774. Not to shabby. No. 2 goes to the Boss, Bruce Springsteen. His new studio album, hits compiilation at Wal-Mart and tour and, since he writes on his own, all the publishing brought Bruce to $57,619,037. The biggest earners last year were U2. The superstar group's 360 Tour was the highest grossing ever, music and merchandising sales raked in $108,601,283. Holy crap!! These acts have been around for around 30 years each and are still bringing in bucket-loads of green. Bite on that, Miley!! Ha. For a complete list go to Billboard.com.