The songstress earned $185 million (ksh18,500,000,000) and it is all thanks to a new record deal, a bevy of endorsements and the tail end of her most recent tour, landing in the top spot on the Forbes list of Highest-Earning Musicians for the second time in five years.
Newly reformed Kanye West bagged the number two spot with an earning of $150 million (ksh15,000,000,000), thanks to the massive sales of Yeezy sneakers. In an interview with Forbes, he said,
I am a product guy at my core. To make products that make people feel an immense amount of joy and solve issues and problems in their life, that’s the problem-solving that I love to do.
Ed Sheeran falls at number 3 with his earning being $110 million ( ksh11,000,000,000) followed by the California rock band The Eagles at number four with $100 million (ksh10,000,000,000)
The number 5 spot is claimed by Elton John, who collected $84 million (ksh8,400,000,000) in 2019 in the midst of his farewell tour. Jay-Z and Beyoncé are tied at number six with $81 million (ksh8,100,000,000) apiece.
In all, the 10 highest-paid musicians in the world earned just over $1 billion pretax during our June-to-June scoring period, up from $886 million last year.
To determine the rankings, Forbes considered their income from touring, music and outside business ventures with the help of Pollstar, Nielsen Music and interviews with industry insiders including many of the stars themselves.
There are nine newcomers to the 2019 list, a number of them Forbes 30 Under 30 alumni, including K-Pop supergroup BTS (No. 15, $57 million), songstress Ariana Grande (No. 22, $48 million) and hip-hop trio Migos (No. 40, $36 million).
The latter diversified their on-stage earnings by inking a deal for a piece of Martell cognac, the latest example of artists learning the lesson that cash is one thing, but ownership is the key to building a fortune.
“If I’m rapping about drinking in the clubs, they’re buying bottles in the club,” says Migos cofounder Quavo. “I need to be having equity in some kind of alcohol.”
