Billboardhas published its list of 2020 Money Makers and unsurprisingly, several rappers have made the cut. As explained in the article published Monday (July 19), the COVID-19 pandemic made a major dent in everyone’s income considering the concert industry was non-existent, which is where a large percent of artists make their money.
Music’s top earners collectively pulled in $387 million last year, down from $969 million the year prior. Even so, artists such as Drake, Post Malone and Lil Baby still raked in million of dollars thanks to the increase in streaming.
“Recorded-music royalties — from sales, streaming and publishing — collectively grew 56 percent, from $197 million in 2019 to $308 million,” the article states. “Individually, artist streaming royalties increased a whopping 82 percent year to year, from $106 million to $193 million, and accounted for just under 50 percent of the top 40 Money Makers’ total income. Sales royalties, digital and physical, were also up 39 percent, from $42 million to $59 million; a trend that continues so far this year.”
While rock acts landed the most spots on the list, Hip Hop/R&B had the most gains. Six Hip Hop artists who didn’t make the cut for the 2019 list ranked in the Top 20.
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But it was pop princess Taylor Swift who took the crown with $23.8 million followed by Post Malone at $23.3 million, a four-spot jump for the “ROCKSTAR” artist. Even with the pandemic hitting at the beginning of 2020, he still earned $12 million from touring.
In the No. 6 spot this year is Drake, who earned $14.2 million. With almost eight billion streams when the on-demand video and web radio stream are included, he pulled in $11.7 million just from streaming. YoungBoy Never Broke Again settled at No. 9 with $11.9 million, while Lil Baby follows closely behind at No. 10 with #$11.7 million.
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Other notable acts include The Weeknd at No. 11 with $10.4 million, Eminem at No. 14 with $9.7 million, Lil Uzi Vert at No. 15 with $9.5 million, DaBaby at No. 17 with $9.1 million and Future at No. 22 with $8.2 million.
As for Kanye West — who threw a fit when Forbes allegedly didn’t accurately report his earnings — he ranked at No. 30 with $6.3 million. Travis Scott, Roddy Ricch and Rod Wave are included in the Top 40 as well. Find the full list here.
