Billboard reveals the highest paid Hip-Hop Acts of 2020 feat Post Malone, Drake, Eminem, and more.
Billboard has revealed the 2020 highest-paid US Musicians, and the genre with the biggest gains is Rhythm & Blues/Hip-Hop, which is represented by 12 artists this year. In the overall musicians’ list, Taylor Swift ranked number 1 with earning around $23.8 Million in 2020.
It also is not unexpected that the lack of live cash caused a sharp drop in the top musicians’ earnings, which fell from $969 million in 2019 to $387 million in 2020. Swift’s take-home income decreased from $99.6 million in 2018 — the last time she was on the list — to $23.8 million. Swift is one of the few artists with high sales, streaming, and touring stats.
Billboard calculates that the popstar received 46 percent of her sales and streaming royalties (after subtracting a 4 percentage-point producer’s cut), compared to the 33 percent that famous musicians normally receive when they do not own their masters. Swift’s ownership position propelled her to No. 1 in sales and No. 2 in streaming royalties, in addition to winning the overall list. She is also the top seller of digital albums (1.06 million), digital songs (1.09 million), and on-demand audio streams (4.3 billion) in 2020.
Despite hip-hop’s popularity, which according to MRC Data accounts for 27.7% of all music consumption in the US, diversification is the key to true riches, as any financial expert will tell you. The creator of the advertising firm Bright Ideas Only, Kim Kaupe, asserts that hip-hop has and always will be a trend-setter. “Brands understand they can no longer test what “may” work by watching from the sidelines. Before they have the facts to support it, they must be actively involved in experimenting with partnerships and trends.
However, due to the Pandemic, there’s a decline in artists’ touring revenue as no concerts or major festivals happened last year.
Money Makers are dominated by heritage rockers, country singers, and jam bands while traveling is in full swing due to their concert grosses. Despite the COVID-19 epidemic limiting any musicians’ prospects of touring in 2020, some big-name rappers gained money through streaming and other ways last year. Hip-hop made a big comeback in 2020 because its performers frequently have a strong streaming game.
Rappers Post Malone, Drake, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, and Lil Baby, Eminem is among the Top Paid Musicians of 2020, according to a Billboard study published on Monday (July 19). Six hip-hop artists that did not make the cut for the 2019 list ranked in the top 20 on this year’s list. Drake, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, and Lil Baby all made the top ten.
“Recorded-music royalties — from sales, streaming and publishing — collectively grew 56% from $197 million in 2019 to $308 million,” wrote Billboard. “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. Sales royalties, digital and physical, were also up 39%, from $42 million to $59 million; a trend that continues so far this year.”
In terms of revenue sources, according to Billboard Boxscore statistics, touring income dropped tenfold from $779 million in 2019 to $79 million in 2020, accounting for just 20% of musicians’ aggregate take-home pay. In prior years, it accounted for 75 to 80 percent of the revenue of the top 40 Money Makers.
Post Malone, was the highest-paid Hip-Hop artist last year, and overall number 2 with a paycheck of $23.2 Million. Posty ended second with $23.2 million, the majority of which came from streaming ($8.1 million) and touring ($12.4 million) before the pandemic forced him to shut it down. He made $2 million from publication and $712,500 from sales.
Post Malone is one of just a few artists on this list that were touring prior to the epidemic. His sold-out concert at the Pepsi Center in Denver on March 12, 2020, was one of the final concerts before the live business went black, and the $12.4 million he earned from that night and 19 previous dates qualified him for second place and a spot on Billboard’s Global Money Makers list. Other major performance factors for the beerbongs & bentleys musician include his seventh-place position in on-demand audio streams (almost 4.2 billion) and top finish in overall streaming royalties ($8.1 million).
He was followed by Toronto Rap star Drake, whose overall rank is number 5. NBA Youngboy was the third highest-paid rapper with $11.9 million. Despite his legal issues, YoungBoy Never Broke Again was able to make money via streaming. With $11.9 million, the troubled artist came in ninth place. YoungBoy made $10 million in streaming revenue and $1.7 million in publishing revenue. Prior to the pandemic, he made $126,000 in sales and $129,000 in touring. Lil Baby comes next on the list with $11.7 million, and overall 10th.
The Detroit Rapper Eminem had a great 2020, mainly because of two projects [Music To Be Murdered By (Side A & B)] he dropped last year. Eminem earned $9.7 Million in 2020, with 0 revenue from touring, similar to Drake. The other rappers on the list include Lil Uzi Vert, Future, Roddy Ricch, and more.
The figures of Billboard contrast with those of Forbes’ Highest-Paid Celebrities, which named Kanye West the highest-paid musician with $170 million USD in profits last year. Elton John, Ariana Grande, the Jonas Brothers, and Ed Sheeran were close behind.
The figures of Billboard contrast with those of Forbes’ Highest-Paid Celebrities, which named Kanye West the highest-paid musician with $170 million USD in profits last year. Elton John, Ariana Grande, the Jonas Brothers, and Ed Sheeran were close behind.
Check out the Top Paid Hip-Hop Acts of 2020 and for the overall musicians’ list, head to Billboard here.
1. Post Malone: $23.2M
Streaming: $8.1M
Sales: $712,500
Publishing: $2M
Touring: $12.4M
2. Drake: $14.2M
Streaming: $11.7M
Sales: $635K
Publishing: $1.9M
Touring: $0
3. YoungBoy Never Broke Again: $11.9M
Streaming: $10M
Sales: $126K
Publishing: $1.7M
Touring: $129K
4. Lil Baby: $11.7M
Streaming: $9.1M
Sales: $152K
Publishing: $2.2M
Touring: $253K
5. Eminem: $9.7M
Streaming: $6.6M
Sales: $1.3M
Publishing: $1.8M
Touring: $0
6. Lil Uzi Vert: $9.5M
Streaming: $7.6M
Sales: $89.3K
Publishing: $1.8M
Touring: $0
7. DaBaby: $9.1M
Streaming: $7.1M
Sales: $160.6K
Publishing: $1.5M
Touring: $313K
8. Bad Bunny: $8.4M
Streaming: $6.8M
Sales: $218K
Publishing: $1.4M
Touring: $0
9. Future: $8.2M
Streaming: $6.4M
Sales: $185K
Publishing: $1.6M
Touring: $0
10. Roddy Ricch: $7.4M
Streaming: $5.7M
Sales: $119K
Publishing: $1.5M
Touring: $91.5K
Note: According to Forbes, Kanye West has a net worth of $2 billion dollars. Kanye West is a self-made millionaire thanks to his Yeezy clothing line. Kanye West is a rapper, record producer, and fashion designer from the United States. With over 160 million albums sold, Kanye West is one of the most successful musicians in the world.
It comes after West was determined to be the world’s second-richest rapper, after only Jay-Z. After Forbes stated that West was worth $1 billion in April, West refuted the assertion, claiming that his net worth was $3.3 billion (£2.6 billion).
