Luke Bryan Is Country's Highest-Paid Star

• Luke Bryan takes top spot from Garth Brooks

Thanks to touring, endorsements and a new role on "American Idol," Luke Bryan tops Forbes' 2018 list of country music's highest-paid stars, reports The Tennesssean.

Bryan's estimated earnings of $52 million puts him at No. 1 over Garth Brooks, who's topped the list for last three years since embarking on his comeback tour. Brooks now sits at No. 2 with an estimated $45.5 million, followed by Kenny Chesney ($37 million), Zac Brown Band ($31 million) and Blake Shelton ($28 million).

Not unlike the country radio charts, the list is almost exclusively populated by male performers. Dolly Parton is the lone woman on the list at No. 10, thanks in part to her Dollywood empire.

Florida Georgia Line ($27 million), Jason Aldean ($23 million), Toby Keith ($22 million) and Brad Paisley ($20 million) round out the 2018 list.

Bryan could very well top the list for years to come: He's recently expanded his empire with the opening of his own bar on Nashville's Lower Broadway, Luke's 32 Bridge Food + Drink.

To formulate their list, Forbes looked at touring numbers from Pollstar, Bandsintown and Songkick, as well as record sales data from Nielsen, while performing independent research on outside business ventures and endorsement deals. Our estimates represent pretax income from June 1, 2017 through June 1, 2018; fees for managers, agents and lawyers are not deducted.