Russian Stars Counted up

The Russian-language edition of the "Forbes" magazine has published the ratings of the richest and most famous Russian sportsmen, actors, musicians and writers.

According to the magazine, the richest and most popular Russian star is the tennis player Maria Sharapova. Her annual income comes to around $18 million.

Far behind her is the married couple of Philipp Kirkorov ($2,2 mln) and Alla Pougacheva ($3,1 mln), closely followed by the vocal group "Zveri" ("Beasts") ($2,5 mln) and boxer Constantin Tsziu ($2 mln).

The stars' incomes have been calculated by independent experts, taking into account their victories, released albums, book circulation and touring schedules. The total amounts do not account for the taxes and fees paid to producers and coaches, nor the revenues from private businesses.

Of no small importance in the ratings is the stars' popularity, it has been calculated based on the number of times the star's name has been mentioned in the press and the number of queries in the Internet.