Billboard has revealed a report of the highest-paid musicians of 2020 in the U.S. and some of the results may be surprising.
The 2020 Money Makers report—which used 2020 U.S.-only MRC Data and Billboard Boxscore statistics—determined which acts raked in the most money, juding by their streaming, sales publishing and touring, which was not much of a possibility last year due to the pandemic. Revenue from merchandising, synchronization or livestream gigs was not included.
Topping this year’s list, to little surprise, is Taylor Swift, who Billboard reports earned $23.8 million in 2020, made up of $10.6 million from streaming, $10 million from sales and $3.2 million from publishing. The top spot is in primarily due to the success of Swift’s two latest LPs, folklore and evermore.
This year’s list also sees some more hip-hop inclusion than before, as rock and country acts fell flat in part due to touring revenue not meeting the numbers it has in previous years. Post Malone finishes in second behind Swift with $23.2 million, as Billie Eilish took the fifth spot with $14.7 million and Drake comes in at No. 6 with $14.2 million. YoungBoy Never Broke Again also cracks the chart for the first time at No. 9 with $11.9 million, made up primarily of his streaming numbers, while Lil Baby finished in 10th with 11.7 million.
Other notable acts include The Weeknd, who placed at No. 11 with $10.4 million, and Travis Scott who earned a reported $5.82 million.
These numbers vary from last year’s Forbes Highest-Paid Celebrities list, which clocked Kanye West in as the top musical earner at $170 million. Falling below Yeezy were Elton John ($81 million), Ariana Grande ($72 million), the Jonas Bothers ($68.5 million) and Ed Sheeran ($64 million). The Forbes list included some other ventures, like Ye’s Yeezy sneakers deal with Adidas and Ariana’s “Sweetener World Tour,” which took place in 2019.
