BREAK ups are an inevitable part of life.
But while some of us curl up in bed with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, our favourite female celebrities are using their anguish as fuel to get even richer.
Billionaire Taylor Swift, 35, has built an empire turning her heartbreak into chart-topping music since 2006.
Among her biggest heartbreak anthems are All Too Well, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together and Teardrops on My Guitar.
With an estimated net worth of £1.2 billion, it’s fair to say she has experienced the most profitable break ups of all time – 11 original albums worth, in fact.
Taylor famously once said in an interview: “If guys don’t want me to write bad songs about them, then they shouldn’t do bad things.”
But she’s not the only songstress clever enough to turn her heartache into profit.
Here, Fabulous takes a look at the most profitable celebrity break ups of all time…
Phoebe Bridgers and Paul Mescal – £300,000
Singer Phoebe Bridgers, 30, sparked dating whispers with Irish actor Paul Mescal, 29, back in 2020 with the pair confirming their relationship in November 2021.
However, by December 2022 and despite engagement rumours, the couple broke up.
Following their split, Paul was asked about their relationship by The Hollywood Reporter.
He kindly declined to comment saying: “Maybe at some point. But just not now. It’s just difficult territory.”
However, American singer Phoebe is said to have released Ghost in the Machine alongside SZA about her former beau.
The lyrics read: “You said all of my friends are on my payroll/ You’re not wrong, you’re an a*****e.
“Screaming at you in the Ludlow/ I was yours for free.”
The song has had a whopping 237 million listens on Spotify and garnered Phoebe royalties over £300,000, according to the experts at GIGAcalculator.
Katy Perry and Russell Brand – £815,000
Singer Katy Perry, 40, married the comedian Russell Brand, 49, in 2010.
They were both at the height of stardom when they met but divorced after 14 months of marriage.
Katy previously told Vogue that Brand was the one who decided to end their marriage when he sent her a text message on New Year’s Eve 2011, informing her that he planned to file for divorce.
“He’s a very smart man, and I was in love with him when I married him,” Katy said at the time. “Let’s just say I haven’t heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011.”
She released the empowering heartbreak anthem Part Of Me in 2012 and it has since amassed 638 million listens on Spotify.
The lyrics go: “You ripped me off, your love was cheap/ Was always tearing at the seams/ I fell deep, you let me drown/ But that was then and this is now.
“Now look at me/ This is the part of me/ That you’re never gonna ever take away from me.”
Katy garnered royalties over £815,000, according to the experts at GIGAcalculator, meaning the “tornado” relationship was at least worth a pretty penny.
Perrie Edwards and Zayn Malik – £1 million
Who can forget when heartbroken Perrie Edwards, 31, dropped Shoutout To My Ex with girlband Little Mix after One Direction’s Zayn Malik, 32, sensationally called off their engagement in 2015.
Zayn reportedly delivered the blow via text, leaving Perrie homeless as she had been living with him at the time.
The 2016 Little Mix song, which fans speculated was inspired by the break up, became an anthem for every anguished British girl.
Perrie sang the opening lyrics: “This is a shout out to my ex/ Heard he in love with some other chick/ Yeah, yeah, that hurt me, I’ll admit/ Forget that boy, I’m over it.
“I hope she getting better sex/ Hope she ain’t faking it like I did, babe/ Took four long years to call it quits/ Forget that boy, I’m over it.”
It’s not all pain and torment though, because not only was the song a chart-topper, it also made Perrie a pretty penny.
She is said to have made over £1 million in royalties from it, according to the experts at GIGAcalculator.
Nearly a decade on since its release, Shoutout To My Ex has amassed 796,115,909 streams on Spotify.
Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber – £1.7 million
Selena Gomez, 32, and Justin Bieber, 30, sparked dating rumors in 2010 when they were still just teenagers, but it wasn’t until 2011 that they confirmed their romantic relationship.
The pair officially split in 2014 but had an on-and-off relationship until 2018.
Justin certainly kept himself busy with a host of beauties during their ‘off’ times, and his most famous romances were with Sophia Richie and his now-wife, Hailey Baldwin.
It was just four months after their official split that Justin tied the knot with Hailey, painful news for Selena which saw her whisked off to a mental health facility suffering an “emotional breakdown”.
In 2020, Selena released break up anthem Lose You To Love Me, which fans quickly speculated was about her split from Justin due to the specific nature of the lyrics.
She sings: “In two months, you replaced us/ Like it was easy/ Made me think I deserved it/ In the thick of healing, yeah.”
In the space of five years, the song has wracked up an eye-watering 1.3 BILLION streams on Spotify.
This is said to have earned the former Disney star £1.7 million in royalties, according to the experts at GIGAcalculator.
Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth – £3.2 million
Miley Cyrus, 32, and Liam Hemsworth‘s, 35, relationship played out in the public eye throughout their 10 years together after they met on the set of The Last Song in 2009.
They had an on-off dynamic with an engagement being announced in June 2012 before splitting in 2014. But in 2016, the romance was back on – as was the engagement.
Then in December 2018, it was revealed the couple had wed in a secret ceremony at Miley’s house in Franklin, Tennessee, six years after getting engaged.
However, they split for good in the summer of 2019, just eight months after they’d tied the knot.
Miley reportedly released her 2023 hit single Flowers after reflecting on their turbulent relationship.
The Hannah Montana star sings in the chorus: “I can buy myself flowers/ Write my name in the sand/ Talk to myself for hours, yeah/ Say things you don’t understand.
“I can take myself dancing, yeah/ I can hold my own hand/ Yeah, I can love me better than you can.”
With 2.5 BILLION streams on Spotify, she is said to have totted up royalties of £3.2 million, say the experts at GIGAcalculator.
Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett – £6.2 million
Olivia Rodrigo might be just 22-years-old, but she had the second most profitable break up of all time behind Taylor Swift.
The former Disney star cashed in on her heartbreak from co-star Joshua Bassett, 24, with her debut studio album, Sour.
Her tunes Drivers License and Good 4 U have both totted up a whopping 2.4 BILLION streams each on Spotify.
Olivia is said to have netted over £6.2 million in royalties from releasing both as singles, according to the experts at GIGAcalculator.
In Good 4 U, she sings: “Well, good for you, you look happy and healthy/ Not me, if you ever cared to ask/ Good for you, you’re doing great out there without me, baby/ God, I wish that I could do that.
“I’ve lost my mind, I’ve spent the night/ Crying on the floor of my bathroom/ But you’re so unaffected, I really don’t get it/ But I guess good for you.”
In Drivers License, she yearns: “And I know we weren’t perfect/ But I’ve never felt this way for no one, oh.
“And I just can’t imagine how you could be so okay now that I’m gone/ I guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me/ ‘Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street.”
Richest singers after a break-up
- Phoebe Bridgers – £300,000
- Katy Perry – £815,000
- Perrie Edwards – £1 million
- Selena Gomez – £1.7 million
- Miley Cyrus – £3.2 million
- Olivia Rodrigo – £6.2 million
- Taylor Swift – £79.8 million
Taylor Swift – £79.8 million in the last 12 months alone
Superstar Taylor Swift saw her music earn over £79.8 million last year in royalties from Spotify.
The Blank Space singer was the streaming platform’s highest earner over the last 12 months alone, meaning she’s still netting millions from break ups she dealt with over 10 years ago.
Among her high profile break ups are her most recent one with actor Joe Alwyn, 34, Scottish DJ Calvin Harris, 41, and fellow singer John Mayer, 47.
She is said to have released retrospective music about all of these break ups.
Arguably her most famous break up song of all time is her 2012 anthem All Too Well, which fans speculate was written about actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
This song alone is said to have made her £1.3 million alone, according to the experts at GIGAcalculator.
And that figure doesn’t include the undisclosed royalties Taylor has made from releasing a 10 minute version of the tune in 2021.
She is currently in a relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce, which started during her International Eras Tour in 2023.
How the GIGAcalculator works..
Gigacalculator found out which celebrity break up was the most lucrative.
It created a seed list of songs written after a break up from a combination of sources: Billboard, Business Insider, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and BuzzFeed.
Once the list of songs was finalised, the data of each Spotify play count (streams) and royalties were collected (using a royalties calculator), as well as the number of copies sold in the US, UK, and Australia.
All data was collected in March 2025 and is accurate as of then. The full dataset is here.
