In today's music industry, with album sales lower than ever before and labels keeping as much as they can to try and stay afloat, touring is clearly the most profitable way for artists to rake in the dough, as evidenced by Forbes' Magazine's latest list of the world's 25 highest paid musicians.  Thanks to their recent, record-breaking "360" tour, Irish rockers U2 landed atop the money list, with $195 million in earnings, followed by Bon Jovi at $125 million.  Elton John, Lady Gaga and Michael Buble round out the top five.  The full list can be viewed below.

The numbers, Forbes says, include all pretax income earned between May 2010 and May 2011, before fees are paid to managers and agents.  The numbers were calculated with data from the RIAA, Pollstar and other agencies.

Forbes' list of the world's 25 highest-paid musicians:

  1. U2 ($195 million)
  2. Bon Jovi ($125 million)
  3. Elton John ($100 million)
  4. Lady Gaga ($90 million)
  5. Michael Buble ($70 million)
  6. Paul McCartney ($67 million)
  7. Black Eyed Peas ($61 million)
  8. Eagles ($60 million)
  9. Justin Bieber ($53 million)
10. Dave Matthews Band ($51 million)
11. Toby Keith ($50 million)
12. Usher ($46 million)
13. Taylor Swift $45 million)
14. Katy Perry ($44 million)
15. Brad Paisley ($40 million)
16. Tom Petty & the Heartbreaks ($38 million)
17. Jay-Z ($38 million)
18. AC/DC ($35 million)
18. Sean "Diddy" Combs ($35 million)
18. Beyonce ($35 million)
18. Tim McGraw ($35 million)
18. Muse ($35 million)
23. Rascal Flatts ($34 million)
24. Kenny Chesney ($30 million)
25. Rihanna ($29 million)