Jerry Seinfeld did it again. He's earned the top spot as the world's highest-paid comedian of 2018, earning a total of about $57.5 million. If that's not impressive enough, there's more. Since Forbes started tracking it in 2006, Seinfeld has taken the top spot every. single. year. except for 2016, which went to Kevin Hart.

So how did Seinfeld manage to make so much money this year? The majority of it - $30 million - came from his first love, stand-up. But he also collected multimillion-dollar dividends from Hulu’s streaming rights to all nine seasons of Seinfeld and a 2017 Netflix deal. Hart was right on his tail with $57 million, thanks to the biggest comedy tour of 2018 which banked Hart $30 million.

While the top two earners took in huge lump sums from touring, some of the other top earners managed to cash in big because of other means. Without a doubt, Netflix has changed the comedy economy. With a programming budget in the billions, Netflix has the cash to pay the big names for comedy specials. In 2018 alone, Netflix released almost 100 stand-up specials. Ricky Gervais claimed fifth place this year with earnings of $25 million. It's estimated he received about $15 million for his Humanity Netflix special.

As the comedy economy changes, it's benefiting not just the comedians. If you have Netflix, and you're a comedy fan (who doesn't love to laugh???), then you've probably been pretty pleased with the wide array of stand-up specials available in recent years. It seems like there's something for everyone.