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"Reality TV sure is a real money maker!\r\nForbes magazine has released a list of the highest-paid American Idol alumni, with Carrie Underwood and Adam Lambert topping this year&amp;apos;s chart. The magazine calculated the singers&amp;apos; earnings on a pre-tax basis, before subtracting agent and manager fees.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;[American Idol is] a money-making machine,&amp;quot; Adam Kluger, the president of brand partnership company the Kluger Agency told Forbes. &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s like having the Super Bowl every week.&amp;quot;\r\nEarning an estimated $20 million, Underwood, 28, has five Grammy Awards to her name, and in 2010, made her feature film debut in Soul Surfer. Having recently surpassed Kelly Clarkson as the best-selling Idol of all time, Underwood&amp;apos;s most recent disc, Play On, has sold more than 2 million copies in the U.S. since its 2009 release. (Clarkson ranked fifth on the current Forbes list, with estimated earnings of $2.5 million.)\r\n\r\nLambert, 29, makes his first appearance on the Forbes list for his $6 million payday between May 2010 and May 2011. The season 8 runner-up -- who tied for second place with Chris Daughtry -- played 116 concerts worldwide in the last 12 months, Forbes reports.\r\nThough Lambert and Daughtry, 31, had strong showings, the list was largely dominated by Idol&amp;apos;s female contingent. Oscar winner and current Weight Watchers spokeswoman Jennifer Hudson landed in sixth place with $2 million, but was bested by season 3 runner-up Fantasia Barino and season 6 champ Jordin Sparks.\r\n\r\nThe full Forbes list of highest-paid American Idols is as follows:\r\n1. Carrie Underwood: $20 million2. Chris Daughtry: $6 million (tie), Adam Lambert: $6 million (tie)3. Fantasia Barrino: $4 million4. Jordin Sparks: $3 million5. Kelly Clarkson: $2.5 million6. Jennifer Hudson: $2 million7. Kellie Pickler: $1.8 million8. Clay Aiken: $1.5 million9. Katharine McPhee: $1 million (tie), David Archuleta: $1 million (tie), David Cook: $1 million (tie)\r\nBy Allison Corneau for Us Weekly. For more Channel Surfing, click here."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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