Forbes magazine is reporting that the top earning individual musician in America is Master P, who ranked 11th in the magazine's annual poll of the highest paid celebrities. The producer/rapper/music exec, with 1998 earnings totaling $56.5 million, was edged out by the Rolling Stones, who finished 10th with $57 million, the only musical entity to make the Top 10.

Celine Dion was next at 13th with $55.5, followed by Garth Brooks at 15th with $54 million, and Sean "Puffy" Combs at 16th with $53.5 million. Rounding out the list in the music field were with the Spice Girls at 21 with $49 million; actor/performer Will Smith, 38th with $34 million, Metallica in at no. 40 with $32 million, and the Dave Matthews Band coming in 42nd with $30 million. The top earning entertainer was Jerry Seinfield, weighing in with a whopping $267 million.

While the magazine gave the earnings edge to Master P, most of the accompanying ink in the issue, dated March 22, was dedicated to Combs. They called his Bad Boy Records, with $130 million in fiscal 1998 sales, the most reliable and diversified hit maker that also benefits from a "platinum cachet." Combs makes roughly $2 per CD profit on his company's platinum selling records with roughly an additional $2 if it's his own record. He took in $2 million in song publishing revenue last year, and charges $150,000 to produce a song for another act. Master P's No Limit, referred to as the only major rap label owned free and clear by its founder, saw $120 million. They described Master P as a major producer who records only rap, and questioned his label's ability to sustain its recent run at the charts.

The article made note of such Combs possessions and expenditures as a mini mink coat belonging to son Justin, a $300,000 custom-made Bentley Azure silver coupe and a similar convertible model, a $600,000 29th birthday party and a $2.2 million East Hampton estate.

A sidebar in the publication also noted some other entertaining examples of earning power. Revenues from sale of the Master P doll are listed at $190,000 while Master P's 1998 film salary was pegged at $3 million.

Jewel's film salary was said to be $576 per day for the civil war drama she shot last year, which is due out this Spring. She also received a $2 million advance on her book of poetry. Brandy gets a paycheck worth $75,000 per episode of her TV show, "Moesha," and enjoys a modeling contract worth $1.5 million.