Virat Kohli Beats Salman Khan On The Forbes India Celebrity Rich List 2019

For the first time, a sportsperson has topped the Forbes India Celebrity Rich List.

Virat Kohli beat popular Bollywood names like Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar to become the richest celebrity in India for the year 2019.

It is the eighth year for the Forbes India Celebrity 100 List that has taken into consideration earnings between 1 October 2018 to 30 September 2019. However, the ranking is also based on the individual's fame quotient, wherein those with higher fame score could be ranked higher than those with stronger revenues.

Here are the top 10 celebrities on the list:

Rank (2019)	Name	Earnings in Rs crore	Rank (2018)
1	Virat Kohli	252.72	2
2	Akshay Kumar	293.25	3
3	Salman Khan	229.25	1
4	Amitabh Bachchan	239.25	7
5	MS Dhoni	135.93	5
6	Shah Rukh Khan	124.38	13
7	Ranveer Singh	118.2	8
8	Alia Bhatt	59.21	12
9	Sachin Tendulkar	76.96	9
10	Deepika Padukone	48	4

For the first time in eight years, two women are part of the Top 10. Despite not having worked on multiple movies, actors like Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, Disha Patani, Kriti Sanon and Sara Ali Khan have a strong fame quotient to their favour, attracting lucrative brand endorsements.

Overall, the 100 celebrities featured on the Forbes India Celebrity Rich List have collectively earned 22 percent higher than they did last year with revenues jumping to Rs 3,842.94 crore in 2019 from Rs 3,140.25 crore.

Forbes observed that sale of satellite TV rights, music rights, home video and digital streaming by producers, several of whom are top actors, have been fetching the celebrities a sizeable amount of revenue, reducing dependence on box-office gains.

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has remained the unique celebrity who makes it to the top 10 despite having retired from his profession in 2013. His earnings are mainly from brand endorsements and investments.