Let [Formula: see text] be a complex projective toric manifold. We associated to [Formula: see text], a positive and closed [Formula: see text]-current called the canonical toric Kähler current of [Formula: see text] denoted by [Formula: see text], and a new invariant called the canonical spectrum of [Formula: see text]. This spectrum is obtained as the set of the eigenvalues of a singular Laplacian defined by [Formula: see text] and which is described uniquely by the combinatorial structure of [Formula: see text]. The construction of this Laplacian and the study of its spectral properties are the consequence of a generalized spectral theory of Laplacians on compact Kähler manifolds that we develop in this paper.