DISBELIEF greeted the revelation that Jonathan Ross gets £720,000 a year - for just three hours work a week. But Wossy's whopping wage seems like chickenfeed compared with the earnings of others in our Showbiz Rich List.
We can reveal that the top earner on TV is 46-year-old Simon Cowell.
He is joint ninth overall and the highest-placed non-musician in the Daily Mirror's Rich List of stars whose finances are based in Britain and Ireland.
Rock/pop Bands Annual income from records, tours etc
Coldplay £37m
U2 £35m
The Rolling Stones £28m
Queen £18m
Pink Floyd £15m
Oasis £9m
Depeche Mode £7m
Jamiroquai £4.5m
Westlife £4m
Bee Gees £2.5mBased on detailed research of the stars' earnings from the last 12 months, our findings make remarkable reading...
Who would have thought that those down-to-earth Geordie boys Ant and Dec are multimillionaires? Last year they pocketed £4million each from their hit TV shows, their own productions including All Star Golf and debut movie Alien Autopsy.
Unsurprisingly, pop queen Madonna tops our chart as the highest earning entertainer. Last year she made £35million, thanks to her best-selling album Confessions On A Dancefloor and sponsorship deals from Motorola.
Well, you need to keep the pennies rolling in when you spend £20,000 a time on diamond-encrusted false eyelashes.
By comparison, Sir Elton John lags behind with earnings of a paltry £30million. Elton - who is worth a total of £185million - kept his coffers overflowing with a sell-out world tour, writing the hit musical Billy Elliot, and earnings from his back catalogue.
And he certainly knows how to spend it. He owns a mansion in Berkshire, a villa on the French Riviera, a townhouse in London's Holland Park, a penthouse in Atlanta and a medieval home in Venice overlooking the entrance to the Grand Canal.
He spent £1.5million on a lavish reception following his wedding to David Furnish, and has also given £20million to charity.
Yet again, England captain David Beckham tops the list of rich soccer stars. He banked a striking £13.2million in 2005 with his contract at Real Madrid and sponsorship deals with Pepsi, Adidas, Police and Gillette. His wealth means that Goldenballs can afford to indulge his pricey pants habit - he spends £1,000 a month on Calvin Klein undies and never wears the same pair twice.
Becks is followed by Michael Owen, Rio Ferdinand and 20-year-old Wayne Rooney, whose fiancee Coleen spends his fortune almost as fast as it comes in.
The new generation of British actresses are also in the money. Cashing in on winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for The Constant Gardener, Rachel Weisz can now command £3million a movie.
But that is small beans compared with Keira Knightley. She earned £10million from movies like Pride And Prejudice, is the face of Asprey, owns a £1.2million apartment in Mayfair. And she's still only 21.
Read the full list here
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