Drake $14.2 million7. Pink Floyd $8.8 million. 7 in both overall streams (4.8 billion) and streaming royalties ($7.3 million). Thats a distinguished and also contentious honor when it comes to ranking who or what is the ultimate best, whether youre talking films, TV shows, restaurants or any other subject. From his Slavery is a choice remarks in 2018 to his more recent reliance on antisemitic tropes (which began during a troubling global rise in hate crimes against Jewish people), Yes fall from grace, amid ongoing reported mental health issues, has sadly been as monumental as his artistic output. Last years rank: No. prompted his signing to Eminems Shady Records under Dr. Dres Aftermath Entertainment banner, and was followed by the Billboard 200 No. Last years rank: No. During raps golden age, I Need a Beat opened the door to the b-boy style, with unmatched energy and aggressive lyricism that became a genre hallmark. (The genre dates back to 1973, when DJ Kool Herc first set up his two turntables to rock a Bronx party.) Individually, artist streaming royalties increased a whopping 82% year to year, from $106 million to $193 million, and accounted for just under 50% of the top 40 Money Makers total income. 17 In determining these rankings, the Billboard and Vibe editorial teams opted first to limit the rap arena to North America. Touring: $0. Recorded-music totals are the sum of an artists sales, streaming and publishing earnings for 2020. Click to reveal Streaming: $7.3M Embracing his nickname as raps toxic king, Future and his syrupy flows were a driving force in Atlantas claiming of the hip-hop throne in the 2010s. Albums like AmeriKKKas Most Wanted and Death Certificate still stand as some of raps most provocative works and when he wasnt sharpening his pro-Black commentary against the systemic racism crippling the community, he was equally adept at balancing tongue-in-cheek insights with feel-good storytelling, as on his timeless 1993 hit It Was a Good Day.. Where he really shone, though, was on terrestrial radio: Bieber was the top artist in the category with almost 2.4 million plays. His streaming figures accounted for $9.1 million, thanks to his chart-topping album My Turn, for which 12 songs simultaneously charted on the Billboard Hot 100. The Stones, who were 2019s top Money Maker with $65 million in take-home pay 92% of it from touring placed in the bottom 25% of this ranking without playing a single show in 2020 and releasing just two new tracks, Living in a Ghost Town and Scarlet, a Goats Head Soup-era recording with Jimmy Page on guitar. Basic Statistic Highest-paid women in . He took home over $3.9 million from 12 shows that grossed $11.5 million in ticket sales, ranking at No. AC/DC $10.1 million14. The shows grossed close to $25.8 million, giving the band almost $8.8 million in take-home pay. In a year with little touring, hip-hop/R&B acts dominated streaming sales and accounted for nearly a third of the 40 artists on the list, including four in the top 10Drake, Post Malone, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, and Lil Baby. A remix of the albums lead single Im Not a Player, it flipped a Brenda Russell sample into a salsa-adjacent jam and cemented the Big Punisher as a commercial force. Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. He received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honor in India, in 2018. Despite the lack of new music, Ye still generated 2.6 billion in combined streams, which yielded a $3.9 million payday. 2020 At 11:17 pm. Last years rank: No. It's painful and heartbreaking to hear Killer Mike rap, "You so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me/ Until my voice goes from a . Billboard, on the other hand, is all about the statistics. Streaming: $3.3M Streaming: $823.4K Shot and killed in a highway Tripple Beanz. LL spent his entire career at Def Jam, becoming their jack-of-all-trades a hitmaker for the ladies and a multi platform trailblazer for artists to cross over into such other fields as TV and philanthropy. Last years rank: No. 2020. 4 with $4.3 million because they own their masters and reap a higher royalty rate as a result. But, also like Strait, Sheltons box-office appeal earned him his berth on Money Makers. Queen $13.2 million8. 9 with $11.9 million. The Mac amassed 1.8 billion combined streams, including 511 million web radio plays. 1 with High Off Life in 2020 and became the artist with the fourth-most Hot 100 entries (110). Despite his gaudy wins, the mercurial MC had his fair share of battles, most notably with Brooklyn titan The Notorious B.I.G, which turned into heartbreaker for both coasts. One of hip-hops most creative visionaries, Missy Misdemeanor Elliott began honing her skills as a rapper, singer, songwriter and producer as a member of the R&B/hip-hop collective Swing Mob in the early 90s with childhood friend/producer Timbaland. Touring: $1M. Publishing: $166.3K After signing with Dr. Dres Interscope imprint Aftermath Entertainment a year later, Lamar hit the ground running with second studio album good kid, m.A.A.d City becoming an instant creative and cultural force. Publishing: $3.2M 7 finish in on-demand audio streams (almost 4.2 billion) and No. Sales: $564K Jonathan Lyndale Kirk released his third studio album, Blame It on Baby, in April 2020, which debuted atop the Billboard 200 and produced his highest-charting song, Rockstar featuring Roddy Ricch. Lil Kims raunchy, vicious rhymes turned hip-hop upside down. Streaming: $6.8M The first became his 10th consecutive Billboard 200 No. Hailing from South Jamaica, Queens by way of Trinidad and Tobago, Nicki Minaj earned her crown as the modern-day Queen of Rap with her fierce, braggadocious spirit. Want to know what everyone in the music business is talking about. While turning heads with hit singles (The Rain, Hot Boyz, Get Ur Freak On, Work It) and acclaimed albums (Da Real World, Miss E So Addictive, Under Construction, This Is Not a Test), she crafted a uniquely futuristic, funky and totally unique style of hip-hop that found her rhyming, singing, scatting or doing whatever else the beat might spontaneously spark. Additionally, he earned $126,000 in sales and $129,000 in touring before the pandemic. I will not lose. Brooklyns Shawn Jay-Z Carters defiant-yet-confident declaration has proven true through his legendary career. Those wins contributed to his Money Makers debut as a solo act. Last years rank: Although heritage country and rock acts remain far behind hip-hop and pop when it comes to streaming plays, their numbers are beginning to swell, and AC/DC is an example: The band amassed almost 1.5 billion overall plays. After coming up in freestyle rap battles, Eminem has continually wielded the mic as his weapon of choice and obliterated anyone who comes in his path as seen in the countless feuds hes engaged in over the years. One of hip-hops pioneering polymaths, T.I. 5 In a typical touring year, The Lumineers would probably not have made the Money Makers top 40. The forum calculated she made $13.6 million from flowing and $1 million at the crate office, with an aggregate revenue tallied to be $32.8 million. Lil Uzi Vert. The group also shot videos for each of the 10 tracks on the addiction-themed album, which contributed to total streaming revenue of $1.3 million. The list breaks down to 22 contemporary artists and 18 heritage artists. Once a tag-along member in Digital Underground, Pacs larger-than-life demeanor became too big to shelter. NBA YoungBoy $11.9 million10. #4 of 97. As the No. Artists with most songs in the Billboard Top 100 in the U.S. 2012-2021 . Publishing royalties were estimated using the statutory mechanical rates for album and track sales. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. Those concerts grossed $12.6 million, which yielded $4.3 million in take-home pay, and earned them the No. 2 with $23.2 million, most of which came from streaming ($8.1 million) and touring ($12.4 million) before he had to shut it down due to the pandemic. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. AC/DC, which owns its catalog and receives a higher royalty rate because of that, released its 17th studio album, Power Up, in 2020, and it contributed to physical sales of 427,000 records from its catalog ranking the Australian headbangers seventh in that category and sixth in sales royalties. Read through our list of the highest-paid musicians to see just how rich the most successful performers can be! Streaming: $6.6M Sales: $557K By Devin. But like King James, he relished the pressure, releasing his seismic debut album Illmatic in 1994 a quintessential hip-hop opus that transcended the genre and became the Holy Bible for every budding lyricist. Touring: $0. He earned $23.2 million, of which $12.4 million is from touring prior to the pandemic shutdown. 26 Rapping since 1993, Black Thought continues to grow more polished as one of the genres greatest MCs. The set was powered by the majestic Intl Players Anthem featuring OutKast. ), among the catchiest singles in hip-hop history. 1 Hot 100 hit to the top 10 of the Streaming Songs chart in October 2020. The Weeknd made $10.4 million USD while Travis Scott reportedly raked in $5.82 million USD. Her melodic rapping on Doo Wop (That Thing) led to the song becoming the first by a female rapper to top the Hot 100. Lil Uzi Vert $9.5 million16. The groups streaming performance was in line with other Latin heritage acts: Aventura generated 731.8 million in combined streams, which translated to just shy of $1 million in streaming royalties. Although Eilish played just three 2020 pre-pandemic dates on her Where Do We Go? He earned $10 million in combined streaming royalties including over 1.4 billion in video streams, 6.2 billion in audio streams, and almost 7 billion in overall combined streams. The late Juice WRLD displaced Drake as the top on-demand audio streaming artist in 2020, but Drizzy remains the No. The Compton native has become one of musics most influential artists thanks to his vivid, thought-provoking and sometimes controversial lyrics, fearless genre experimentation, and agile-yet-masterful flow. The Beatles $12.9 million9. 1 live touring revenue generator for 2020, that amounts to $17 million in take-home pay, which puts Dion at the top of the concert earnings ranking and accounted for over 98% of her overall 2020 income. has earned three Grammys andseven top five Billboard 200 albums and forged a successful film and TV career. Publishing: $1.5M During his 30+-year career, the global best-selling producer, often cited as hip-hops GOAT behind the boards, boasts a treasure trove of lyricists who have written for him, from Ice Cube, the D.O.C. On this years list, six hip-hop artists who didnt make the cut for the 2019 list ranked in the top 20. Run the Jewels, "Walking in the Snow". Redmans rugged yet humorous rhymes and infectious personality make him one of hip-hops most beloved MCs. Signaling a major renaissance in West Coast and gangsta rap, his critically acclaimed sophomore project reeled off several commercial hits: Swimming Pool (Drank), Backseat Freestyle, and Bitch, Dont Kill My Vibe. Next came 2015s jazz-influenced To Pimp a Butterfly, his first Billboard 200 No. Before Melle Mels game-changing run with Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, rap was still constrained by its yes, yes yall! park jam origins. Quizzes; Events; Quiz Creation; Community; Videos; Private Events; Remove Ads . Billboard has released its highest-paid musicians of 2020. The albums smash single, The Box, spent 11 consecutive weeks atop the Hot 100, and Ricchs feature on DaBabys No. Latifahs subsequent jump into Hollywood proved to be just as impressive, earning accolades for her television work (Living Single) and an Oscar nod (the 2002 musicalChicago), and making her oneof the first MCs with the star power to prove how deeply a rapper could become embedded in American pop culture, even outside of the world of hip-hop. Drizzy is at No. More than any rock bands fan base, the KISS Army is very late to the streaming party: Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and company generated just 217 million combined streams. Last years rank: No. 1 in February 2020, a year in which he also landed five songs in the top 10 of the Hot 100, including his duet with Ariana Grande, Stuck With U, which debuted at No.1. 49. As of March 2023, J. Cole's net worth is estimated to be $60 Million. Hip-hop artists remain music's top money makers. after his scene-stealing verse on their 1991 hit Same Song. Pacs duality as a solo artist was remarkable: One minute, he was endearing, scripting empathetic classics like Dear Mama and Keep Your Head Up; the other, he was explosive, lacing up his war boots, ready to ride on his enemies (Hit Em Up and Hail Mary). Publishing: $986K You Got Me, the Erykah Badi-featuring crossover duet from the Roots platinum-selling album Things Fall Apart, remains a shining moment thanks to his rich baritone and riveting storytelling. Last years rank: The duos 1994 debut, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, used gospel-influenced tracks (produced by Organized Noize)to introduce the many nuances and characters of Atlanta. The prosecution argues Lil Boosie paid Michael "Marlo Mike" Louding $2,800 to kill a his rival Terry Boyd. One fan learned the hard way when she tried to capture the moment. Publishing: $1.6M "Things got bigger and betterGod is great," says DJ Khaled, who ranks No. Three 2020 releases Map of the Soul: 7, Map of the Soul: 7 The Journey and Be helped BTS sell almost 1.5 million CDs. 2 on the Billboard 200, and her biggest hit of the year was Lifes a Mess with Juice WRLD, which hit No. Touring: $3.9M. Big Daddy Kane was an early rap star archetype thanks to his show-stealing performances in the late 1980s. Bolstered by two mammoth deals with luxury giant LVMH and Jack Dorsey's Square, Jay-Z has lapped the competition to become the highest-paid rapper of 2021; and as per Rolling Stone, the 2nd highest-paid musician behind Bruce Springsteen and his US$590 million / AU$811.9 million music catalogue sale.. Hip-hop's first billionaire managed to rake in a grand total of US$470 million / AU$646.75 . 40 Richest Rappers of All Time. Sandra Denton. Posty . Those releases helped Slim Shady reach No. Ghost continued the winning streak well into the 21st century, firstwith his 2000 sophomore opus Supreme Clientele and on through 2006s brilliant Fishscale and 2013s comic book on wax, Twelve Reasons to Die. 1 single Wait for U with Drake and Tems, he now boasts eight No. Ross demanded attention through his deep gruff-and-grunting ad-libs, colorful street tales and inside looks at Miamis lavish lifestyle, plus his incredible ear for production more appetizing than a lemon-pepper Wingstop order. Further showcasing his versatility, the rapper detoured into reggae as Snoop Lion on 2013s Reincarnated, before reclaiming his Snoop Dogg persona for 2018s Bible of Love, which debuted at No. Streaming: $8.1M Like AC/DC and Queen, Metallica owns its masters, which means the bands royalties are calculated at a rate of 78% (from which 4% goes to the producers of its albums). Under his now-retired moniker Mos Def, Brooklyn native Bey broke into the underground scene on Rawkus Records influential 1997 compilationSoundbombingwith a charismatic presence that recalled the early 80s chief rocker days of Busy Bee Starski. Touring: $2.5M. In a year with little touring, hip-hop/R&B acts dominated streaming sales and accounted for nearly a third of the 40 artists on the list. Sales: $4M Publishing: $1.2M Dre e ha ottenuto il primo successo due anni pi tardi con il singolo My Name Is. Here are the highest-paid musicians and their estimated net worth, according to Forbes as of 2020: Kanye West - $241M Kanye Omari West is a rapper with a variety of musical genres and . Sales: $5.3M The Wu-Tang Clan member possesses it all: unmistakable voice, impenetrable flow, witty rhymes, dark sense of humor, charm and good looks that also translated into Hollywood success. 10. From rap's "golden age" in the 1980s to today's generation of social media-created stars, they all have one thing in common boatloads of money. No matter the moniker, theres no denying Calvin Broadus Jr.s estimable impact as one of the founding fathers of West Coast and gangsta rap. Sales: $5.2M Yet on the 1998 collaborative milestoneMos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, Bey proved to be so much more a revelation further amplified on the unmoored race mans gold-certified 1999 solo debutBlack on Both Sides. Tm top bi ht v album ca Self-Paid Fabo, bao gm Trapstar, Trust Nobody, v.v. 1 spot on the list and because of the pandemic had little influence over the ranking in general. Sales: $215K Publishing: $1.6M Sales: $4.3M Publishing: $1.5M 1 on Billboards 2020 Money Makers list is one of the few unsurprising results of a ranking that holds many surprises. While not enough to make the top 10 in that category, he ranked second in album download sales with 314,000 copies and No. He also remains a streaming giant with $8.1 million in overall royalties, plus an additional $2 million from publishing. Touring: $0. 3 on the Billboard 200. 3 title on the year-end Billboard 200 albums chart. A year with little touring resulted in many of rock and country musics regular road warriors giving up their spots to artists with strong 2020 streaming and physical sales performances many of them hip-hop acts. He co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records, collected 24 Grammys, ran hip-hops legendary Def Jam Records as president, guided Rihanna and Ye to billionaire status, founded a behemoth entertainment/sports agency in Roc Nation and best-selling spirits brands Dusse and Armand de Brignac and even today, still makes time to drop four-minute long rap verses that break the internet (as he did on DJ Khaleds God Did in 2022). Streaming: $6M He wasnt necessarily the best lyricist, nor did he possess the craziest flow. However, the Port Arthur native born Bernard James Freeman twangy flow ended up being far more influential than his initial underground career aspirations. Weve revealed 10 more rappers each week since, with the final top 10 now unveiled below. Last years rank: This year, artists should be able to stack some cheddar now that music festivals and tours are opening back up from coast to coast. The album served up unapologetic street rhymes, dark humor and some of the stickiest choruses that year, thanks to two Hot 100 No. Touring: $313K. The timeless Ms. Lauryn Hill straddles the line between Motown soul, boom bap, R&B, jazz and rap defying convention and introducing a new standard for genre-bending rappers. But few rappers, if any, have repped the Bay longer or stronger than E-40. Last years rank: The action you just performed triggered the security solution. highest paid rappers 2020 billboard. From there, Pusha became a fashion icon and served as president of Wests label, while continuing to release well-received solo albums full of vivid descriptions of his drug hustling and emotional struggles. Touring: $0. 1s on Billboards Hot Rap Songs chart No Time, Not Tonight (Ladies Night Remix) and Crush on You making her the first female rapper to do so. Tips laid-back, smooth-talkin flow came peppered with immortal lyrics in playful songs like Bonita Applebum. His body of work further established the creative link between hip-hop and jazz. Sheeran landed on the Hot 100 twice in February 2020. Sales: $119K Streaming: $2.97M Hip Hop's highest earners of 2021 have been announced, and it appears the global COVID-19 pandemic . On Chronic, his 1992 triple-platinum-certified gangsta rapopus, Dre also exhibits an effortless delivery on the mic, with a commanding voice thats one of the genres most recognizable. 1 Hot 100 hit, Rockstar, made him a streaming star, with combined streams of almost 3.9 billion over 710 million of them video streams which put him at No. 6 with $14.2 million. Touring: $17M. At 19 years old, Billie Eilish is indestructible. 1 twice on the Billboard 200, while all six of the groups albums were certified either gold or platinum. Publishing: $2.9K He earned an additional $2.2 million from publishing and $253,000 from two concerts. Changes, Biebers first album in more than four years, became his seventh Billboard 200 No. Last years rank: No. 22, $8.2M), Roddy Ricch (No. The Greatest of All Time, aka the GOAT. Aventura makes its debut on the Money Makers list, totally on the strength of its box office. Beyonce Knowles-Carters husband has succeeded in every era, spitting regal-scented rhymes that speak to the struggle, and to the opulence that follows an intensely self-made greatness. 11 junio, 2020. Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. His touring take came from two concerts. Touring: $4.2M. Lyrically, she pushed hip-hop beyond its boundaries regarding female empowerment, with a fearlessness that also imbued her innovative and still-influential music videos. Those shows gaveTool almost $4.2 million in take-home pay, the eighth-highest live earnings for the year and the bulk of the acts income.