Posted by Billboard has 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.
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.
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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.