His impact is undeniable: Nas, Jay-Z, De La Soul, KRS-One and Redman are just a few of the rappers who have sampled Blows music. Featuring Lamars first solo No. Post Malone Money. In fact, Reggie Noble led off Eminems list of the greatest MCs within the latters pump-up perennial Till I Collapse. With EPMDs Erick Sermon as a mentor, Redman (aka Funk Doc) exceeded expectations in 1992 when his debut studio project Whut? Ed Sheeran - $200 Million. 7 with $35 . In addition, that mix also encompasses 50 years of cultural milestones for a genre initially dismissed as a passing fad and now recognized as the industrys market-share leader. In 2015, she earned $154 million and was named Forbes' highest-earning . When you consider the evolution of hip-hop, Rakim is the source material for pioneering the use of internal and multisyllabic rhymes, penning intricate lyrics and shifting the overall use of simple flows to more complex deliveries. Coles story is well-known: Hov signed him to Roc Nation as its first artist in 2009 after he garnered attention with Lights Please and dropped some blistering guest verses (Wales Beautiful Bliss, Kanye Wests Looking for Trouble). Touring: $0. 2 Billboard 200 concept album, III. They did even better internationally and topped the 2020 Global Money Makers ranking. (Whats My Name? Last years rank: Posty . AC/DC $10.1 million14. Eagles $16.3 million5. All and all, rappers still made money in 2020 despite the impact of the pandemic on the music industry. Touring: $0. Streaming: $3.7M Highest Paid U.S. Money Makers In Music: 2020 Rankings - Billboard Sales: $152K 9 spot in that category. In 2022, he relaunched the Rock the Bells Festival in Queens, which included performances from Rick Ross, The Diplomats, Ice Cube and more. 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. James is the 6th richest female rapper in the world. 5 most-played act of 2020 the band also generated nearly $4.9 million in income from its recorded masters, which is almost 30% of the bands overall earnings. Recorded-music totals are the sum of an artists sales, streaming and publishing earnings for 2020. JAY-Z, Kanye West, & Diddy Top Highest-Paid Hip-Hop Artists of 2021 Three of them Drake, YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Lil Baby placed in the top 10. Publishing: $1.4M Publishing: $967K Kid Rock, Detroit rapper Esham and Record Time's Mike Himes at the fighting for a name on the scrappy Detroit hip-hop scene of the '90s, . NBA YoungBoy $11.9 million10. Touring: $0. Sales: $218K Capital Punishment also topped the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and peaked at No. While Kims movie idol looks and provocative fashion sense commanded eyes, her gruff delivery and punchy rhymes brought fear and respect from rival MCs, as evidenced by her searing features on Bad Boy classics like The LOXs Money, Power & Respect and Diddys Its All About the Benjamins.. Sales: $712,500 Post Malone, Drake and YoungBoy Never Broke Again are - REVOLT In addition, deceased artists are excluded from the rankings. Last years rank: 25 (7.37 million), Kanye West at No. Meanwhile, his enduring combination of lyrical prowess, classic albums and envelope-pushing evolution continue to support the widely held consensus that hes the best rapper of his generation. He grossed over $12.3 million in ticket sales for five shows (two at Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena) for a $4.2 million payday and seventh place in the touring category. Here Are the Highest Paid Rappers of 2020 - King Mag Sales royalties, digital and physical, were also up 39%, from $42 million to $59 million; a trend that continues so far this year. Pink Floyd hasnt released a studio album since 2014 and it still managed to finish at No. Blow may not possess his descendants complex rhyme skills, but he was a star in his own right thanks to a magnetic voice and charismatic stage presence. While not enough to make the top 10 in that category, he ranked second in album download sales with 314,000 copies and No. By now, his vivid storytelling (Black Girl Lost & I Gave You Power) and precocious diction (Nas Is Like & Made You Look) are goated, and his resiliency has proven to be Hall of Fame-level especially when he scored a TKO against Jay-Z and added a new verb to the hip-hop lexicon with his scathing comeback diss Ether in 2001. In a typical touring year, The Lumineers would probably not have made the Money Makers top 40. Last years rank: No. YoungBoy earned $10 million via streams, along with $1.7 million in publishing. As the No. Listening to Black Thought is like enrolling in a masterclass on lyricism. Sales: $10M Streaming: $5.5M Billboard and Vibe are counting down the best MCs ever in honor of hip-hop's 50th anniversary. Sales: $4.3M 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. Sales: $446.8K All Rights Reserved. . Touring: $0. Streaming: $1.33M Before rap became a cultural and commercial powerhouse, Kurtis Blow provided early proof of the genres future capabilities. Streaming: $3.74M 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. Lil Uzi Vert. 39 Kodak Black Pays Tribute to XXXTentaction: 'We Lost a Legend', Big Sean and EST Gee Drop 'Anthem' for 'Creed III' Soundtrack, Cardi B and Offset's McDonald's Meal Receives Pushback From Restaurant Owners, Chris Brown Throws Fan's Phone During Lap Dance, Billboard Names Top 10 Greatest Rappers of All Time, Stream the 'Creed III' Soundtrack Featuring J. Cole, Big Sean, and Kehlani. 30 ($6.3 million) and Travis Scott at No. Halseys 2020 album, Manic, debuted at No. Streaming: $2.7M They also placed No .7 in publishing royalties ($2.4 million) because the original members wrote all of their songs. Since partnering with Hit-Boy in 2020 for their first installment of their well-received Kings Disease series, Nas has released three more projects and nabbed his first-ever Grammy, proving his lyrical sword remains as sharp as ever. 1 at the end of that year and kept on selling and streaming through 2020, as well as delivering two 2020 Hot 100 hits, Watermelon Sugar, which topped the chart in August, and Adore You, which hit No. And hearing him master the double-time flow on 1999s Slim Shady-featuring Forgot About Dre, from the six-times-platinum-certified masterpiece 2001, is still a shock to the system. Touring: $2.5M. Bars about investing and saving money? The evolution continued with the R&B, psychedelic soul, and pop-infused DAMN. While 2020 proved to be a huge setback for most artists' revenue, a new Billboard article says a number of rappers are among the highest-paid musicians of the year. Shawn Carter leads the rap pack with a career-best total of $470 million. albums all without missing a beat. Last years rank: No. The highest-paid hip-hop artists of 2021 have been revealed and JAY-Z and Kanye West once again top the list. From battle rhyming (Shut the Eff Up-Hoe) to heartfelt storytelling (Poor Georgie), Lyte roared into the 90s racking up three gold singles most notably the Puffy Combs-produced Cold Rock a Party (1996), featuring an then-up-and-coming Missy Elliott. Top Rap Artists - Billboard 1 on the Billboard 200. Publishing: $986K Swift takes the top spot almost solely on revenue earned from the recorded masters of her two 2020 albums, folklore and evermore, which she owns and licenses to Republic for distribution. Last years rank: No. Billboard's Top Paid Artists of 2020 Drake Travis Scott - HYPEBEAST Paul McCartney ($535 million) No Beatles, no problem: McCartney continued an epic solo run, selling out stadiums and even getting his first No. He wasnt necessarily the best lyricist, nor did he possess the craziest flow. Drake, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Lil Baby Make Billboard's 'Top Paid 1 in video streams with over 1.4 billion; No. Last years rank: Sales: $591.7K Over a decade into his prolific career, Future Hendrix is more commercially relevant than ever: the ATL trap legend became the only artist to appear on the Hot 100 every week throughout 2022. In 2020, Forbes reported that the English singer-songwriter received $64 million from his singing activities. In 2020, Forbes ranked Kohli 66th in their list of the top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world for that year, with estimated earnings of $26 million. Here are the richest rappers in the UK. A random call from Jay-Z in 1999 ended up shattering regional exposure barriers when Jays braggadocious Big Pimpin earned UGK its first top 40 Hot 100 hit. 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. The Weeknd $10.4 million12. With a collection of brilliant solo albums and one of the most unmistakable styles in hip-hop history, Ghostface Killah is arguably the most accomplished rapper within the Wu-Tang Clan, which already has its own stake on any GOAT rap group list. The majority of Sheeren's earnings this year were from touring. Although Eilish played just three 2020 pre-pandemic dates on her Where Do We Go? Streaming: $1.3M Publishing: $1.8M He is one of the highest-paid rappers and his net worth is around $100 million. His prolific output resulted in almost 3.7 billion U.S. audio streams, the 10th-largest in the category, and 4.7 billion combined streams, which netted him $6.8 million in royalties and secured him the No. After the album went platinum, he became the first Latino solo rap act to sell over a million copies. Grande was 2019s No. 7 in overall sales royalties with $3.7 million. (1989) were eloquent hood testimonies. When he wasnt baring his soul, DMX steadily proved he could hang with raps best: LL Cool J, Jay-Z, Nas, Busta Rhymes and others have all experienced Xs untameable aggression firsthand. Billboard has released its highest-paid musicians of 2020. In 2020, Elliott ranked No. Streaming: $5.1M The Weeknd made $10.4 million USD while Travis Scott reportedly raked in $5.82 million USD. Touring: $0. Last years rank: Few lyricists possess the dexterity to pull off a brilliant allegory about the history of hip-hop on I Used to Love H.E.R. while also firing off a savage takedown of a fearsome Ice Cube on The Bch In Yoo, and then later becoming a Grammy-nominated hitmaker on The Light. And in 2017, Common became the first rapper to get the first 3/4 of the way to an EGOT by winning an Emmy (Letter to the Free, from 13th), Grammy (Love of My Life with Erykah Badu) and Oscar (Glory with John Legend, from Selma). 5 and 6 in those categories, respectively. Streaming: $2.2M 11 junio, 2020. The combined royalties from those streams add up to just shy of $10 million, which makes him the fourth top-earner in that category. Fleetwood Macs place on this list is partly due to the viral Ocean Spray TikTok video set to Dreams (and its several homages) that sent the 1977 No. They also moved more than 2.6 million digital downloads. 1 Billboard 200 albums and three RIAA-certified Diamond singles (Lose Yourself, Love the Way You Lie and Not Afraid), his unprecedented commercial success makes for one of the most noteworthy rags-to-riches tales in popular music. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google, Visit Billboard Pro for music business news. Sales: $394.9K This year, artists should be able to stack some cheddar now that music festivals and tours are opening back up from coast to coast. 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: $1.6M He set a new benchmark for erasing musical boundaries and ignoring popular trends, influencing a host of generation-next talents like Pharrell Williams, Kanye West and Tyler, the Creator. Royalties from recorded masters and publishing income made up the difference. Publishing: $166.3K Touring: $3.9M. Want to know what everyone in the music business is talking about. KISS managed to play 20 shows in 2020, generating $14.8 million in ticket sales and $5 million in take-home pay, the sole reason the road warriors made the Money Makers list this year (and last year, too). Jay Z the best rapper . But in fact, his limitations were what made the 25-year-old wunderkind one of the greatest MCs to touch Gods green earth: He knew of his shortcomings, but relied on his voice and motivational messaging to resonate and crack through the toughest gangstas. 10. He remains the overall most-streamed act with almost 8 billion streams, accounting for $11.7 million, only second to Taylor Swift in streaming royalties. Aerosmiths plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the bands formation were cut short by the pandemic, but the group played eight shows during its Deuces Are Wild residency at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas before the curtain fell. His $66,400 in sales royalties came entirely from digital downloads. Last years rank: No. Rhymes about experiencing a mental health crisis? Touring: $0. Post Malone $23.2 million3. Publishing: $398K Streaming: $5.7M 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. 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. This was nothing new for New Jerseys own Dana Owens: With her essential 1989 debut album All Hail the Queen, she not only delivered the classic Monie Love-featured Black feminist anthem Ladies First, she also got the party started (Come Into My House) and took out wack MCs (Wrath of My Madness). The highest-earning musicians, also published as the "highest-paid musicians", have been reported annually by Forbes since at least 1987. Touring:$0. Touring: $1M. 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. Reviving gangsta rap in the process, Get Rich also nabbed a stunning nine-times platinum RIAA certification. see charts legends It's impossible to overstate the influence of rap on popular culture. As a result, Metallica placed at No. Unlike most other R&B/hip-hop acts, The Weeknd also generated strong sales royalties. 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. Publishing: $611K Read through our list of the highest-paid musicians to see just how rich the most successful performers can be! The Tally Of The Highest-Paid Hip-Hop Acts Of 2021 Is In! Best Rappers of All Time - Billboard After collaborating on projects by Aaliyah and others, the pair focused their attention on Elliotts solo career, beginning with her arresting 1997 debut, Supa Dupa Fly. Ludacris became Atlantas first crossover superstar of the 2000s, dominating theairwaves and the clubs with an arsenal of Dirty South anthems at his disposal, coupled with his uniquely charismatic twang. Bring the crowd and Im loud in living color/ It is Weezy Fkin Baby, got these rappers in my stomach, Lil Wayne opens his 2005 deep cut, Best Rapper Alive, foreshadowing the years to come. 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. 17 ($9.1 million), Future at No. Sales: $970.7K Rounding out the top 10 is Lil Baby with $11.7 million. Streaming: $6.6M 1 debut of Get Rich or Die Tryin in 2003. But even after writing rhymes that triggered FBI attention and radio bans, Ice Cube launched an even more extraordinary solo run. Known for his versatility, Ed Sheeren's cross-genre success has brought him to the top. Impeach the president, pulling out my RAY-GUN/ Zap the next one, I could be your shogun, he exploded over the Bomb Squads revolutionary, deconstructed production. 9 with $11.9 million. 2 in sales and streaming royalties, respectively. A recent Billboard revealed that such big-name rappers who saw the most cash in 2021 are Post Malone, Drake, YoungBoy Never Broke Again & Lil Baby.They're at the top in the least of the top paid musicians of 2020. 90s Detroit RappersBut this list will focus on solo rappers who In 2020, however, they played 20 shows to 215,000 fans behind their 2019 No. Looking at revenue streams, touring income, based on Billboard Boxscore data, fell tenfold, from $779 million in 2019 to $79 million and accounted for just 20% of artists collective 2020 take-home pay. The trap pioneersworkaholic mindset led to his flooding the streets with north of 70 mixtapes, and his hunger for greatness has yet to wane as he enters his 40s.