Say what you will about Britney Spears, she's a valuable commodity as far as the nation's economy is concerned.
According to Portfolio magazine, the troubled pop princess puts anywhere from $110 million to $120 million in the pockets of others each year—and that's when she's not even touring.
Spears earns an estimated $737,000 a month, or about $9 million a year, and has already built up a fortune estimated at $125 million, according to recent court documents in her custody battle with Kevin Federline.
Impressive as those figures are, however, they amount to little in comparison to the money others are making off the singer.
Foremost, there's the direct Spears-related music and business ventures:
- Since releasing her debut album in 1999, Spears has gone on to sell a staggering 83 million records, raking in more than $400 million for her label, Jive Records.
- Her tours, too, are hot sellers, grossing close to $150 million to date. And Elizabeth Arden has sold close to $100 million of the Britney-based fragrances Curious, Believe and Fantasy.
- In all, the Spears brand is bringing in an average annual take of $30 million to $40 million for her record label, promoters, licensers and others.
There's a reason the paparazzi are constantly on her tail.
- Money shots of the "Oops" singer can generate anywhere from $250 for the average shot of a gas station run to $500,000 for, say, X17's exclusive shaved-head photos.
- X17, which sold $2.5 million worth of Spears photos in 2007, estimated that shots of the singer represent 30 percent of its revenue, while rival agency Splash News pegged Spears' value at closer to 10 or 15 percent of its business.
- In all, photo agencies score an annual take of around $4 million by keeping their cameras trained on Spears.
All of those photos are getting published somewhere—namely, celebrity tabloids.
- From January 2006 to July 2007, Spears was featured on the covers of People, Us Weekly, In Touch, Life & Style, OK! and Star 175 times.
- While that may seem like oversaturation, there's a good reason for it: A magazine with Spears' mug on the front sells about 33 percent more copies on the newsstand. Within the 78-week time period referenced above, newsstand sales of issues with her on the cover amounted to $360 million.
- On the Internet, Spears has topped the annual Yahoo search rankings for six of the last seven years, briefly dropping to number two in 2004 when Paris Hilton had a short-lived stint at number one.
- Searches for the singer were up 60 percent in 2007—the year she shaved her head, checked into rehab and committed numerous other interest-generating acts.
- In all, Spears fodder amounts to an estimated $75 million in annual media revenue.
And then there's K-Fed...
- An unknown backup dancer BB (before Britney), he now commands up to $30,000 for a simple nightclub appearance.
- He also continues to draw $35,000 a month from the singer in spousal and child support payments.
- In all, Federline's ex factor probably nets him an annual take of about $1 million.
"Gimme More" has suddenly taken on a whole new meaning.