It looks as if no one forgot about Dre last year with the artist, producer and original gangster pulling down a whopping $110 million in pre-tax earnings according to Forbes' list of The World's Highest Paid Musicians of 2012. The doctor lead the pack ahead of Roger Waters ($88 million) coming in second, Elton Jon ($80 million) third and U2 ($78 million) rounding out the top four.

Some other notables that will tickle your fancy are Britney Spears ($58 million) who miraculously beat out Paul McCartney ($57 million) for the number seven spot; Taylor Swift, Justin Beiber, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele and P. Diddy also made the list making us question the state of music or the state of Forbes.

Forbes' method for calculating total earnings not only included earnings from making music but also earnings from outside the studio such as sales from fragrances, investments and endorsements.