Topping the Forbes India Celebrity 100 List seems to have become a habit for Salman Khan.
On the back of ?253.25 crore earned through his film releases, television appearances and brand endorsements between October 1, 2017, and September 30, 2018 (our period under consideration), the 52-year-old actor became India’s highest-paid celebrity on the list for the third consecutive year.
What is heartening, though, is that a sportsperson is challenging an actor’s domination at the top for the first time. At No 2 is cricketer Virat Kohli, with ?228.09 crore in earnings. Actor Akshay Kumar (?185 crore) climbs up a spot to No 3.
With cumulative earnings of ?3,140.25 crore, it was a lucrative year for the 100 celebrities on the list. Last year, the figure was 17 percent lower at ?2,683 crore.
It was inevitable that actor Shah Rukh Khan, who did not have a single release during the period under review, would lose the second spot that he held last year with earnings of ?170.5 crore.
However, despite his earnings dropping to ?56 crore, he is at No 13, proving his strong pull as the face of several consumer brands.
Similar is the case with Priyanka Chopra who slips from No 7 last year (?68 crore) to No 49 (?18 crore) in 2018.
Actor Deepika Padukone at No 4 (?112.8 crore) is the highest-earning woman celebrity, and becomes the first woman to break into the top five positions since the inception of the List in 2012. However, there are 18 women on the List this year, down from 21 in 2017.
Cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar holds a unique distinction of featuring in the top 10 every year. Though he retired from the game in 2013, his earnings stood at ?80 crore this year compared to the average of ?73.12 crore over the past seven years. Brand Tendulkar is intact and going strong.
Fifteen of the celebrities on the List are from South India. The Tamil and Telugu film industries have seven actors each, while Kerala has one.
The fickle nature of stardom is not the only reason some celebrities drop out of the List. Sometimes, it’s just about the volume of work.
As we have discovered over the years, box office performance alone does not impact earnings. For sports stars though it’s all about what they do on the field.
In the next few pages, read our in-depth profiles, trend stories and data analysis to get a glimpse into what goes behind the making of a star and a brand.
