Forbes List of Hip-Hop Top Earning Artists
Forbes returns with their 2017 edition of the top 20 people who made the most money over the past one year in the Hip-Hop scene.
It’s no surprise that Diddy sit at the top of the list once again with estimated earnings of a whopping $130 million, attributed to success with Ciroc vodka, DeLeon tequila and Aquahydrate water as well as revenue earned from the Bad Boy Reunion Tour earlier this year and selling a chunk of his Sean John clothing line for an estimated $70 million.
Drake comes in at number 2 with $94 million, thanks to his enormous music sales, revenue earned from the Boy Meets World Tour and other deals with brands like Apple, Sprite and Nike.
Jay-Z ranks third with earnings of $42 million due to various ventures like Roc Nation and Sprint. His earnings will go even higher once his $200 million deal with Live Nation fully materializes.
There are some newcomers on the list this year as well, including Chance the Rapper (No. 5 with $33 million) who is yet to release an official studio album, and Lil Yachty (No. 20 with $11 million).Notable names missing from the list are Birdman and 50 Cent. The latter should make a splash once his earnings from shows like Power are accounted for.
Forbes Hip-Hop’s Top Earning Acts of 2017
1. Diddy ($130 million)
2. Drake ($94 million)
3. Jay-Z ($42 million)
4. Dr. Dre ($34.5 million)
5. Chance The Rapper ($33 million)
6. Kendrick Lamar ($30 million)
7. Wiz Khalifa ($28 million)
8. Pitbull ($27 million)
9. DJ Khaled ($24 million)
10. Future ($23 million)
11. Kanye West ($22 million)
12. Birdman ($20 million)
13. J. Cole ($19 million)
14. Swizz Beatz ($14 million)
15. Snoop Dogg ($16.5 million)
16. Nicki Minaj ($16 million)
17. Lil Wayne (15.5 million)
18. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ($11.5 million)
18. Rick Ross ($11.5 million)
20. Lil Yachty ($11 Million)
Criteria For Rank:
“To make our list, we add up pretax income from touring, record sales, streaming, publishing, merchandise sales, endorsements and other business ventures. Fees for managers, agents and lawyers are not deducted. Earnings are calculated from June 2016 to June 2017 and based on data from Nielsen SoundScan, Pollstar, Songkick, Bandsintown and the RIAA, as well as interviews with inside sources and a handful of the artists themselves.”
