Bruce Springsteen, Roger Waters and Van Halen are among the musicians that hauled in the most cold hard cash during 2012, according to Billboard.  The magazine added up the annual earnings of music's top names -- including tour receipts, digital music sales, and streaming and subscription revenue -- and found that artists normally earn the most money from playing live.  That's the main reason why the aforementioned rockers all landed in the top five of the Billboard tally.

The Boss, who wound up in second place on the list, brought in $33,443,606.64, of which 92 percent came from his Wrecking Ball world tour.  Right behind Springsteen was Waters at #3; the ex-Pink Floyd star raked in $21,160,131.06, with more than 93 percent of his revenue coming from his recent The Wall Live Tour.

Van Halen took the #4 slot on the tally after ringing up $20,184,709.91, with about 84 percent of the cash coming from their tour in support of A Different Kind of Truth, the group's first studio effort featuring original frontman David Lee Roth since 1984.

Veteran rockers finishing further down on the list included Red Hot Chili Peppers (#25, $9,477,807.56), The Rolling Stones (#26, $9,276,084.10), Rush (#28, $8,719,834.30), Elton John (#29, $8,575,518.13), Journey (#35, $6,983,106.58) and Rod Stewart (#38, $6,459,568.26).

The most success music act overall of 2012 was Madonna, who earned a cool $34,577,308.62 last year.  Check out the entire top 40 list at Billboard.com.

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