Jennifer Lawrence is highest paid actress in the world; earns $52 million in a year

Forbes has unveiled its list of The World's Highest-Paid Actresses for 2015 and the result has left people unsurprised. At the top of the list is definitely one of the celebrities who raked in big after starring in several blockbusters last year.

According to Forbes Magazine, Jennifer Lawrence has earned an estimate of $52 million before tax, making her the top big earner actress in the list, followed by Scarlett Johansson who made $35.5 million and Melissa McCarthy who earned $23 million. This is also the first time the magazine has included a broader variations making Bingbing Fan, a Chinese actress, rank fourth in the list with her $21 million earnings.

The 18 highest paid actresses have made a combined income of over $281 million, which is $660 million below what the 34 highest paid actors have made. The list has shown only four actresses to have surpassed the $20 million mark, adding controversy to the issue of pay gap among actors and actresses. Last year, Lawrence and Amy Adams have been reported to have lesser profits than their male counterparts for the movie "American Hustle."

Philly adds that although this has been a leap from Lawrence's number two spot last year, her wages are still considerably lower than that of Robert Downey, Jr. who made $80 million this year, making him the highest paid actor in the world. To round up the top five, Jennifer Aniston ranks fifth with her $16.5 million earnings.

Jennifer has starred in "The Hunger Games" and "X-Men" last year, two of the top blockbusters movies, which has catapulted her to the top spot, Huffington Post reports. Add in her high fashion ad and endorsement for Dior, her Oscar award and cool girl attitude towards anything else which makes her in demand among movie producers and directors, it is no surprise that she'll earn more than what she had last year.

The other half of the list is composed by Julia Roberts at sixth place for $16.5 million, Angelina Jolie with $15 million tying with Reese Witherspoon; Anne Hathaway and Kristen Stewart also share the top 9 spot with $12 million each, and Cameron Diaz caps off the top ten with $11 million earnings.