Forbes debuts their annual ranking of Hip-Hop’s biggest earners and Kanye West takes the No. 1 spot over Jay Z and Drake respectively.
Coming in at no. 1, Kanye West gained $150 million, double that of Drake who ranked third with $75 million. Jay Z sandwiches in between the two with $81 million. According to Forbes. their data represents pretax income from June 2018 through June 2019 not accounting for fees such as agents, management or lawyers. Their figures are gathered through data from multiple sources including Nielsen Music, Bandsintown and interviews with experts and the artists themselves.
The lowest of the top 20 is the highest ever with Pitbull sitting at $18 million. Behind Drake, Diddy, Travis Scott, Eminem, DJ Khaled, Kendrick Lamar, Migos and Childish Gambino close out the top ten.
Meek Mill and Cardi B both earned spots however did not agree with the reported totals. Meek Mill is listed as number 15 with a $21 million total. Cardi B makes her first appearance on Forbes “highest paid hip-hop acts” list at number 13 raking in $28 million. Both rappers share via Twitter their belief that the Forbes reporters may need new calculators.
Where do Forbes be getting they numbers from cause they way off ??
— iamcardib (@iamcardib) September 19, 2019
Cardi B questions “Where do Forbes be getting they numbers from cause they way off ?” while Meek Mill exclaims “The Forbes got our accounts fucked up lol ….”
Despite claims the Forbes numbers are off, leading man Kanye West has no doubt seen a year of unprecedented success. His footwear line Yeezy in partnership with Adidas is expected to break $1.5 billion in sales.
Kanye West does not look to stop growing his empire anytime soon. His ‘Sunday Service’, musical worship series continues to build buzz and the rapper shares his upcoming gospel album Jesus Is King debuts September 27.
Check out the entire top twenty below:
- Kanye West ($150 Million)
- Jay Z ($81 Million)
- Drake ($75 Million)
- Diddy ($70 Million)
- Travis Scott ($58 Million)
- Eminem ($50 Million)
- DJ Khaled ($40 Million)
- Kendrick Lamar ($38.5 Million)
- Migos ($36 Million)
- Childish Gambino ($35 Million)
- J. Cole ($31 Million)
- Nicki Minaj ($29 Million)
- Cardi B ($28 Million)
- Swizz Beatz ($23 Million)
- Meek Mill ($21 Million)
- Birdman ($20 Million)
- Future ($19.5 Million)
- Nas ($19 Million)
- Wiz Khalifa ($18.5 Million)
- Pitbull ($18 Million)
