Recently, Fortune Magazine China released its rankings for the top-earning celebrities in China from 2017 to 2020.
Mandopop King Jay Chou tops the list, raking in a whopping 2.15bil yuan (SGD450.6mil). Next in a not-so-close second is Zhou Xun who made 1.66bil yuan (SGD348.9mil) in the same amount of time.
Others who made the list included Wallace Huo in the 12th place (SGD264.8mil), Louis Koo came in 29th (SGD216.2mil) and Zhang Ziyi at the 36th spot (SGD155.7mil).
Jay Chou is the undisputed champion, whose concert tours undoubtedly contributed greatly to his earnings. It has been pointed out by Chinese media that a lot of his fans listened to his music back in the early noughties, and they are working adults now, so they have the spending power to support the singer.
From 2016 to 2018 alone, Jay performed in 42 concerts in China, and they were all held in huge arenas and to sold-out audiences. Chinese actress Zhou Xun reportedly made 95mil yuan (SGD19.9mil) for acting in 2018’s Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace. The hit drama has been viewed more than 18.9 billion times on streaming platforms and made Zhou Xun an even more sought-after celebrity for advertisers, according to 8days.sg.
Known as the Queen of TV, Sun Li consistently pulls in high ratings for her dramas. In the past couple of years, her earnings have gone up considerably, and she was rumoured to have been paid 1mil yuan (SGD209K) per episode for the 2017 period drama Nothing Gold Can Stay. With 74 episodes in the series, that would have translated to a cool SGD15.46mil. Her husband, Deng Chao, came in 18th on the same list with an estimated income of SGD241mil.
China’s Iron Man, Wu Jing is one of the most popular action stars in the country. After starring in 2015’s box office triumph Wolf Warrior, he hit it big time. More recently, he has become a member of the exclusive ’10 billion club’. Together with Chinese actors Huang Bo and Shen Teng, the three men are the only stars whose films have made at least 10bil yuan (SGD2.09bil) at the box office.
Yang Mi rounds out the top five. She reportedly commands 100mil yuan (SGD20.9mil) for every movie. Yang Mi is also an advertisers’ darling, besides being the highest-paid actress in China.
Among the brands, she’s worked within recent years are Michael Kors, Estée Lauder and Victoria’s Secret. /TISG