Drake recently found himself in the company of Dr. Dre and Puff Daddy as the wealthiest Hip Hop artists in the game right now. However, J. Cole reigned in the year of 2015 as rap’s highest-earning artist on Billboard’s “Top Money-Makers List.”
The “Love Yourz” rapper lands at #27 overall on the list after raking in a reported $8.8 million last year, with a bulk of that through touring. He embarked on the “2014 Forest Hills Drive Tour,” which took him around the world and ended with a homecoming show in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Cole cashed in an estimated $5.5 million from shows alone. He made $1.5 million in sales, $1.1 million in publishing and $788,000 from streams. His last LP, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, was released in December of 2014.
The Weeknd, Drake and Nicki Minaj follow Cole on the list. The “Can’t Feel My Face” singer made $8.6 million at #28, with the majority coming from $3.6 million in sales. Drake lands at #32 with an income of $7.4 million, $4.4 million of which comes from sales. Minaj, like Cole, made her money through touring, with $3.5 million from “The Pinkprint Tour” helping give her an earnings of $6.3 million and a #39 spot on the list.
Taylor Swift was the #1 money-maker of 2015, earning $73.5 million over the course of the year. Her majority income was touring as well, bringing in $61.7 million from shows.
To read the entire list, visit Billboard.
For additional J. Cole coverage, watch the following Trending Story:
J.cole is the best rapper out better than Kendrick Lamar & drake
drake is the god mc
Better than drake yes better than kendrick hell naw, I think freddie Gibbs and big krit are better than J.Cole
Better than drake yes better than kendrick hell naw, I think freddie Gibbs and big krit are better than J.Cole
Drake is a queen.
You can’t be a GOD MC if you don’t create your own rhymes. Facts homie!!!
The internet social media n all that did destroy album sales but it more than made up for it by how much you can earn from shows these days its crazy you can make as much from a couple gigs as you would get for going platinum
“What about Jay z ? Dude has like businesses and shit. Guarantee he made more than any of them. And what bout kanye with his endorsement deals? They not counting that I guess”
LMAO – You think Jay-Z has real businesses that produce actual gross profit? He might have a fraction of a percent ownership in something in order to use his name to get black people to spend money on white-owned products. We need to understand the different levels of wealth and power. Taylor Swift made more this year alone than Minaj will make in her career. Multiply that out and then look at the people writing Taylor Swift her paychecks. Then look at the people in real money industries like oil and technology. Take a look at hedge fund managers.
Bullshit, everyone knows Drizzaveli is banking more than Kendrick and J Cole combined. I mean, VIEWS just went platinum first week. #DrakeIsLoveDrakeIsLife
J COLE + K DOT = (FFFLLLAAAAMEEEE$$$)
much respect to Cole.