Beyonce and Jay-Z Named Entertainment's Top-Earning Duo

For the second consecutive year, Beyoncé and Jay-Z have been named Forbes' top-earning couple in entertainment. The duo combined to earn $122 million between July 2008 and July 2009, beating out Hollywood power pairs like Brangelina, the Beckhams and TomKat. While Jigga carried the financial weight in their relationship by a narrow margin on the Forbes' inaugural list last year, Beyoncé easily out-earned her husband this time around, grossing $87 million to Jay-Z's $35 million. On last year's list, when Jay-Z's 360 deal with Live Nation was factored in, the pair earned $162 million, with Jay pulling in $82 million.

Jay-Z joins Beyoncé onstage at her I Am ... tour opener: check out photos.

Combined, Jay-Z and Beyoncé nearly doubled the amount earned by Forbes' Number Two couple, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart, who Forbes reports made $67 million thanks largely to Ford's $65 million paycheck for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie came in third, while a pair of technically semi-retired music artists and their respective partners, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith and Victoria and David Beckham, came in fourth and fifth.

Other music-related couples to make the list include Coldplay's Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow, who combined for $33 million, new Idol judge Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi with $36 million and "the Jay-Z and Beyoncé of country music," Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

Get a look at more entertainment power couples.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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