Forbes magazine has released their annual Hip Hop Cash Kings list, and the 2014 installment sees a new man at the top. Dr. Dre slides into the number one position over perennial top earning contenders Jay Z and Diddy.
The $3 billion Beats By Dre deal with Apple helped the company’s co-founder, Dr. Dre, earn the highest total of any musician ever evaluated by Forbes. The producer brought in $620 million over the last year. Jay and Diddy tied for #2 with $60 million hauls respectively. Drake jumps to the #4 slot with $33 million, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis round out the top five with $32 million.
Forbes describes the methodology for calculating their list as follows:
The Hip-Hop Cash Kings list tracks pretax earnings for living artists whose work is primarily classified as hip-hop or rap. To form the list, we considered income from touring, record sales, publishing, merchandise sales, endorsements and other ventures. Management, agent and attorney fees are not deducted. Earnings are calculated from June 2013 to June 2014 and based on data from Pollstar, the RIAA and Nielsen SoundScan, and from interviews with numerous managers, lawyers, music executives and some of the artists themselves.
Check out the Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings List 2014 below.
1. Dr. Dre – $620 million
2. Jay Z – $60 million
2. Diddy – $60 million
4. Drake – $33 million
5. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – $32 million
6. Kanye West – $30 million
7. Birdman – $24 million
8. Lil Wayne – $23 million
9. Pharrell Williams – $22 million
10. Eminem – $18 million
11. Nicki Minaj – $14 million
12. Wiz Khalifa – $13 million
13. Pitbull – $12 million
14. Snoop Dogg – $10 million
15. Kendrick Lamar – $9 million
16. Ludacris – $8 million
16. Tech N9ne – $8 million
16. Swizz Beatz – $8 million
16. 50 Cent – $8 million
20. Rick Ross – $7 million
20. J. Cole – $7 million
20. DJ Khaled – $7 million
20. Lil Jon – $7 million
20. Mac Miller – $7 million
Source: AllHipHop.com