AMERICAN pop star Madonna (above, with daughter Lourdes) has topped the Forbes list of Hollywood’s most-hardworking mothers after reportedly earning US$110 million (S$164 million) last year.

Actresses Reese Witherspoon and Gwyneth Paltrow came second and third respectively on the list, which was released last Friday.

Ms Lauren Streib, who helped compile the data, told Reuters that the 50- year-old singer, who released the album Hard Candy last year, “had an incredible year”.

“She had the top tour of any musician... The tour sold out around the world. So it wasn’t surprising as much as it is a commentary on how successful her year was,” she said.

Madonna grossed around US$105 million on her tour and sold nearly a million albums in the United States.

She is the mother of three children – Lourdes, 12, Rocco, eight, and David, three. She adopted David from Malawi in 2006.

Witherspoon, who last starred in the film Four Christmases, is divorced from actor Ryan Phillippe and has two children – nine-year-old daughter Ava and son Deacon, five.

She is also the international spokesman for the cosmetics company Avon. She earned an estimated US$24 million.

Paltrow – who made a major comeback last year in hit film Iron Man and who has two kids with her husband, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin – had earned around US$20 million.

The list is based on estimated earnings of Hollywood mothers with at least one child.

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