Celebrities make so much money because it is essentially a tournament and to the victors got the spoils. That's part of the economic fact because we're in a hit-driven culture (at least until the democratization process started by the internet is complete). The democratization is happening in music already, whereas before you had to either be the best or nothing, now you can find smaller niches in which you could do just fine. Read The Long Tail and Freakonomics for some interesting perspectives on this. It's also a part of 80/20 rule, the top 5% of books make 85% of the sales, if I recall correctly because of the way the system is necesssarily setup. Read The Long Tail about this, again.
Now, as time goes on, fewer and fewer celebrities will hold as much staying power because consumers that demand more customized products actually have a chance at having their demand fulfilled and it is still economically viable. That's because the means of both production and distribution are becoming cheaper (as technology gets better and as the internet becomes an even stronger distribution force--itunes anyone?).
That's the economic perspective. Others have hit on sociological/cultural perspectives (as that celebrities fit an archetype).
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