By Aime Williams
6:34PM GMT 11 Mar 2014
Daily Telegraph

The list, compiled by American magazine Billboard, sees Fleetwood Mac ranked tenth with earnings of $19.1m, while the Stones came fifth with $26.2m. One Direction sat at thirteenth with $18.0m, though all three were beaten by 24-year-old Taylor Swift, who was the top-ranked star with an annual total of $39.7m.

Touring, recorded-music sales, publishing royalties, and revenue from digital music and video streaming were all taken into account when the earnings were calculated, although revenue from sponsorship and merchandise was not.

The Rolling Stones’ earnings were thanks to a lucrative deal with American company AEG Live, who allegedly paid the band $80m to secure the promotional rights to 15 shows in the 2013 50th anniversary tour. The band are rumoured to have earned a further $5m through their tour partnership with Citi group. Each show grossed an average of $4.7m

Despite their age, the Stones still sold 1.5 million track downloads and sold 300,000 CDs.

Fleetwood Mac’s presence on the list is due to their 2013 world tour, which earned them $17.4 million. They also made money from the release of new a EP, Extended Play, which was released for digital download.

The band’s nationality is more complicated than that of the Rolling Stones. Original members were British nationals Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Jeremy Spencer, and Peter Green, who were responsible for the band’s debut album Albatross in 1968.

They were later joined by McVie’s wife, Christine McVie and American singer-songwriters Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

Rumours, produced in 1977, remains one of the best-selling albums of all time.