Billboard Ranks The 40 Biggest Money Makers of 2015

We're five months into 2016, but Billboard has just come out with their list of the 40 highest paid musicians of 2015.

The music mag's formula to determine who made the most money over the 12 months of 2015 is simple: Sales + streaming + publishing + touring revenue.

Taylor Swift tops the list with $73.5 million. That's almost twice as much as number 2, country star Kenny Chesney ($39.8 million.)

Only four Hip Hop artists placed in the top 40 for 2015, with J. Cole's $8.8 million leading the pack in 27th place.

Check out highlights of the list below. 1. Taylor Swift $73.5 million 2. Kenny Chesney $39.8 million 3. The Rolling Stones $39.6 million 4. Bill Joel $31.7 million 5. One Direction $24.2 million 6. Greatful Dead $23.8 million 7. Luke Byran $23.1 million 8. U2 $21.8 million 9. Adele $20.5 million 10. Maroon 5 $19.2 million

27. J.Cole $8.8 million 28. The Weeknd $8.6 million 32. Drake $7.4 million 39. Nicki Minaj $6.3 million

While Hip Hop didn't exactly represent in 2015, that should change this year thanks to Drake. His new album VIEWS will do over a million first week, and his upcoming tour with Future should assure that Drizzy is going to be one of the highest paid artists of 2016.