Six musicians made it into Forbes’ Highest Paid Entertainers of 2021 ranking.
In addition to classic rock and pop artists, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen, the top ten includes OneRepublic frontperson and songwriter, Ryan Tedder, and entrepreneurial hip hop stars, Jay-Z and Kanye West.
Filmmaker Peter Jackson topped the list, which also includes actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, and actor, director and producer Tyler Perry.
Dylan, Simon, Springsteen and Tedder made most of their money by selling the rights to their back catalogues. Ye collected cash from his fashion design deals with Adidas and the Gap. Jay-Z made his money by selling stocks in Tidal and Armand de Brignac (a champagne brand).
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos topped Forbes’ billionaire list for 2021, coming in ahead of Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault & family, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.
See the complete list of the highest paid entertainers of 2021 below (all earnings in US dollars).
- Peter Jackson ($580 million)
- Bruce Springsteen ($435 million)
- Jay-Z ($340 million)
- Dwayne Johnson ($270 million)
- Kanye West ($235 million)
- Matt Stone and Trey Parker ($210 million)
- Paul Simon ($200 million)
- Tyler Perry ($165 million)
- Ryan Tedder ($160 million)
- Bob Dylan ($130 million)
