This article originally appeared on people.com.
With all of this back and forth over who is and who isn’t a supermodel, and what the word supermodel even means in this day and age, we all seem to have taken our eye off the bottom line, i.e., which of these lovely ladies is raking in the most dough for her efforts. After all, hasn’t the tell-tale sign of a bonafide top model always been the endless list of campaigns, covers, catwalks, and endorsement deals? And in those terms, lovers of the old guard fashion elite should be thrilled because according to Forbes’ Top Paid Models list for 2016, Gisele Bündchen is once again the biggest earner in the world for the 14th year in a row.
According to the just released list, Gisele has managed to hold on to her coveted number one position for a decade and a half now, an unparalleled success streak in an industry known for its fickle nature. The model makes $30.5 million annually, rivaling her husband Tom Brady‘s Super Bowl-winning quarterback contract thanks to massive, on-going contracts with brands like Pantene, Carolina Herrera, and Chanel. But just because Gisele secured the honors of top dog this year, don’t think for a second that newcomers Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid aren’t hot on the veteran catwalker’s Stuart Weitzman stilettos.
According to the list, Kendall has catapulted herself from the number 16 position all the way up to number 3, just under Adriana Lima who held her position thanks to her longterm employment with Victoria’s Secret and Maybelline. The twenty-year-old poser’s annual salary more than doubled this year, jumping from four to $10 million thanks in no small part to partnerships with Estée Lauder (EL) and Calvin Klein. Gigi also secured her own spot amongst these elite models, ranking the highest of the six new names on the list at the number five position, with brands like Maybelline and Tommy Hilfiger vying for a slice of her 22 million person social media following.
All together the top 20 models on the list earned a combined $154 million with a total 200 million Instagram followers making one thing crystal clear: It undoubtedly pays to be this beautiful.
