No one has to tell you that it’s been a rough year for Charlie Sheen, but Forbes Magazine just announced that his final year before the chaos was a big one for the actor.

It seems that Sheen took in $40 million dollars, giving him the top spot on the annual ranking list. The data was compiled from May 2010 to May 2011, so it doesn’t include the recent settlement he made with Chuck Lorre or really much of the chaos that transpired later on.

And so this award is bitter sweet for the actor because it’s where he was, not where he is going. Of course, Charlie is not unemployed exactly, as he’s taken up creative control and stardom in the series Anger Management, which with the proper positioning could return him to that spot. The only trouble is, thus far, the series has yet to pick up a network. But in all fairness, they are still in the early stages, so that may be more of a probability as time goes on. He also is starring in the independent film A Glimpse in to the Mind of Charlie Swan III, sort of a self-portrayal/fiction movie. Course, independent film actors don’t make near as much as big studio production people do as a rule.

Still Sheen managed to beat Ray Romano by almost twice. Romano is also currently without a show after “Men of a Certain Age” was cancelled, but he still gets a good chunk of change from Everybody Loves Raymond syndication. Steve Carell, formerly of The Office was third, NCIS’s Mark Harmon was fourth and Sheen’s Two and a Half Men co-star Jon Cryer tied for fifth at $11 million against Lawrence Fishburne, who was on CSI. Of course Sheen was employed for most of the time that the survey was taken, making it easy for him to beat some of those who weren’t, but he took out those that were as well.