You’d be surprised, given how few teenagers know who “Miley Cyrus” is, that the young woman is the hottest ticket “since the Beatles.” Of course, that’s considering the 15-year-old daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus is known worldwide as the fictional “Hannah Montana,” created for the Disney television show of that name.

That’s right. The most famous pop singer under the age of 20 in the world doesn’t even exist. Tickets to her, err, Hannah’s concerts can be sold by scalpers for four to five times their face value, prompting parents of teens and ‘tweens to compare her to the legendary rock acts of the 1960s.

On The Walt Disney Company’s (NYSE: DIS) Hannah Montana television show, Miley plays Miley Stewart, a wanna-be ordinary teen with a secret identity as a pop star. Her own father plays her father on the show. Hannah Montana — and Miley Cyrus — were never supposed to be

that big. Originally Miley auditioned for the best friend of her character, and the pop star wasn’t to be named “Miley” until she got the part. What’s more, Hannah Montana hadn’t been envisioned as an actual concert act until the show proved to be so popular and young girls bought the Hannah Montana CD in droves that summer.

The Best of Both Worlds concert tour has been such a hot ticket that its organizers have added 14 more performances in January, and Cyrus is currently filming a film spin-off of her television series. Her take that year? $3.5 million, landing her 17th on Forbes‘ “Top 20 earners under 25″ list … with 10 years still to go.

Be certain to check out more Money Winners of 2007.

Original post by Sarah Gilbert

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