American hip-hop superstar, Sean Combs, a.k.a P Diddy has emerged Forbes highest earning musician for the year, without releasing any album for the period.

“Diddy is the top-earning musician on the planet, pulling in a career-best 130 million dollars pretax this year,” the report says.

“His total got a boost from his Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour, his Ciroc vodka deal and the sale of one-third of his Sean John clothing line for an estimated 70 million dollars.”

According to Forbes, Diddy has used a combination of charisma, smartness and showmanship to elevate himself from modest means to the top of an empire that encompasses music, spirits, clothing, television and more.

“I’m the average person,” Diddy told Forbes earlier this year.

“I started looking at business at the age of 12, from delivering newspapers to working in gas station bathrooms, or even doing things like being a background dancer or a stylist.

“Whatever I could do to get close to the industry,” he said.

Also, Beyoncé ranked second with 105 million dollars, making her the only other act top to pull in nine figures.

Her Formation World Tour, which wrapped up in late 2016 and fell partly in the scoring period, was a major income contributor to her.

The Formation World Tour was the seventh concert tour by the American singer in support of her sixth studio album, ‘Lemonade’.

Drake, the world’s acclaimed most-streamed artist in recent years, rounds out the top three with 94 million dollars, much of it from his Boy Meets World Tour.

The highest earning artistes list is generated considering pretax income from June 1, 2016 through June 1, 2017, fees charged by agents, managers and lawyers inclusive.

“We gathered data from Nielsen SoundScan, Pollstar, the RIAA and interviews with industry insiders,” Forbes said. (NAN)