Beyonce Knowles highest paid performer

Beyonce Knowles has been named the highest earning entertainer by the minute in the world.

The 'Love on Top' singer topped a poll by social media website saucytime.com by earning £1.25 million for a five-song performance at a private New Year's Eve 2010 party on the island of St. Barts, equating to £71,040 for each minute she was on the stage.

In second place was Mariah Carey, who earned £630,000 - or £44,400 per minute - for a four-song set at a similar party held the previous year on the same Caribbean island.

Third highest earner per minute was Kylie Minogue, who commanded £33,000 every sixty seconds – or £2 million for her whole hour set –when she sung at the launch party of the Atlantis Hotel in Dubai, November 2008.

Next was Jennifer Lopez, who received the equivalent of £25,000 a minute from Russian tycoon Andrei Meinichenko to appear at his wife's birthday party in 2007.

Jennifer narrowly beat The Rolling Stones who rounded out the top five by making £2.2 million in 2002 from an hour and a half set for Texan billionaire David Bonderman's 60th birthday, the equivalent of £24,242 per minute.

Saucytime.com - which charges users just £2 a minute for its services – also calculated the next five highest earners per minute to be Eminem at £16,666 Usher and Christina Aguilera tied in seventh place with £10,441, Rihanna earning £8,333 in ninth place and Cheryl Cole completing the top ten by commanding £4,167 per minute for an hour long private concert in Venice this February.