Is Madonnas Music Still Hot. Free Madonna Gossip & News

Pop diva Madonna is top of the pops when it comes to Britain's biggest music earners, according to a teaser of the latest Sunday Times Pay List, which ranks the 500 highest-paid people in the country.

The newspaper's third annual list, which will be fully revealed in the newspaper's forthcoming edition, estimated that the Material Girl beat rockers Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Mick Jagger to lead the list of music earners.

Michigan-born Madonna, who raked in more than $56 million in the year to September 30, 2002, qualified for the second annual list after she became a British resident.

Nearly an estimated half of Madonna's earnings -- about $24 million -- came from the deal she signed with Microsoft Corp to use her "Ray of Light" song to launch Windows XP.

The annual take-home pay of the only woman in music's top 10 jumped $9 million to put her in 15th place in the overall list of 500, down four places from a year ago.

In second place on the list of top music earners was McCartney, who earned $51 million, well ahead of Jagger, who generated $36 million.

In a music top 10 otherwise dominated by other old stagers such as Keith Richards, Sting, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Charlie Watts and Pete Townsend, the youthful Robbie Williams's earnings of $15 million saw him enter at number nine.

Williams's recent $120 million deal with music giant EMI -- signed just after the Pay List's cut off period -- should see him challenge Madonna for music's top spot next year.

The pop music industry was also represented by Simon Fuller and Simon Cowell, who would appear to have unearthed a gold mine in wannabe television programs such as "Pop Idol" and "American Idol."

Fuller, who created both programs, reaped $45 million last year, placing him at 19 in the top 500, while reviled "Pop Idol" judge Cowell also cashed in -- his earnings of $4.5 million put him at 239.

By comparison Will Young, who won Britain's "Pop Idol" televised contest, looks a relative pauper. The $750,000 he earned last year was $1.5 million short of the top 500's cut-off point.

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