Forbes has revealed the top-earning musicians of 2019 and Kanye West is holding the crown.
The annual list of the year’s biggest moneymakers includes Yeezy, Beyoncé, JAY-Z and Drake. The Sunday Service head honcho landed at No. 2 on the list behind Taylor Swift with $150 million, due to his growing Yeezy empire. His partnership with Adidas, which manufactures his Yeezy brand, is expected to top $1.5 billion in sales this year.
Kanye told Forbes, “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.”
JAY and Bey tied at No. 6 with $81 million. Drake brought in $75 million, followed by Revolt TV’s own Sean “Diddy” Combs with $70 million. Rihanna came in at No. 11 with $62 million in earnings.
Other celebs to make the list include Travis Scott (No. 12, $58 million), Ariana Grande (No. 22, $48 million), The Weeknd (No. 29, $40 million), Kendrick Lamar (No. 34, $38.5 million), and Migos (No. 40, $36 million).
According to Rap-Up, the 10 highest paid musicians in the world earned a little over $1 billion pre-tax between June 2018 and June 2019.
In other Kanye-related news, the Jesus Is King rapper recently announced that he will be bringing a religious-themed opera, titled Mary, to Miami’s Art Basel. The event will take place today (Dec. 8) at Miami’s Marine Stadium.
The opera will be directed by Vanessa Beecroft, who led Kanye’s first opera performance, Nebuchadnezzar, and will include music from the rapper’s Sunday Service. Tickets for the event were announced on Thursday (Dec. 5) and the going price was $200.
We previously reported that Kanye’s Nebuchadnezzar opera focused on a Babylonian king and his “transition from wicked, imperious, self-declared ruler to a true believer who finds salvation in his faith.”