On March 2, writer Zack O’Malley Greenburg – former editor of Forbes magazine – announced a list of the 12 highest-earning stars in the world of hip-hop last year. Statistics from market research units such as Nielsen BookScan, MRC Data, Pollstar, IMDBPro and Variety Insight…

Jay-Z (470 million USD): Rapper born in 1969 sold 80% of the shares of online music platform Tidal for 302 million USD. He bought this company in 2015 for about 56 million USD. The deal brings Jay-Z’s total assets to about $1.5 billion. Rapper also makes money through making music and fashion and beverage brands.

Kanye West (250 million USD): Singer released the album “Donda” in August 2021 and topped the Billboard chart. However, West’s revenue mainly comes from fashion contracts. He owns the Yeezy shoe brand, collaborating with Adidas. The rapper also just signed a contract worth about 1.5 billion USD with GAP, paid in installments over 10 years.

Diddy (75 million USD): 53-year-old rapper makes money mainly through beverage and fashion companies. He also receives commissions from copyrights of old songs and profits as a music producer.

Drake (50 million USD): Canadian rapper succeeded with the album “Certified Lover Boy” – setting the best opening record in the US market in 2021. According to IFPI, he was also the best-selling hip-hop artist last year , behind only pop stars like BTS, Taylor Swift and Adele.

Wiz Khalifa (45 million USD): The “Black and Yellow” singer makes money mainly through sideline businesses. Last year, he also participated in the television competition The Masked Singer and ranked third overall.

Travis Scott (38 million USD): Scott makes a lot of money from his tour and the Cactus Jack record label he founded. However, the singer got into legal trouble when a fatal accident occurred at a show in Houston (USA) in November 2021.

DJ Khaled (35 million USD): American rapper makes money mainly from music activities and clothing and jewelry contracts.

Eminem (28 million USD): The rap legend usually earns about 20 million USD from touring activities and music copyrights. Last year’s income increased sharply thanks to accepting the invitation to participate in the Super Bowl show in February.

J. Cole (27 million USD): The 37-year-old singer was successful last year with the album “The Off-Season”. His promotional tour collected more than 16 million USD in ticket revenue. Cole also owns some shares of Jay-Z’s company Tidal and benefits from the rapper’s business.

Birdman (25 million USD): Artist earns a lot of commission through Cash Money record label – which owns the copyrights of many stars such as Drake, Lil Wayne or Nicki Minaj.

Doja Cat (25 million USD): The 27-year-old singer is the only female rapper on the list. Last year, her single “Planet Her” sold 1.5 million pure album units according to Billboard statistics. Doja Cat also signed many advertising contracts with brands such as Pepsi, Candy Crush…