Dr. Dre Is The Highest Paid Musician Of 2012
Posted by Joseph Lee on 11.29.2012
According to Forbes...
Forbes has provided a list of the 25 highest-paid musicians of 2012 and Dr. Dre is at the top after his headphone sales, catalog sales and bringing back Tupac Shakur as a hologram to perform with Snoop Dogg at Coachella. He has earned an estimated $110 million between May 2011 and May 2012. He earned $100 million pre-tax when HTC bought a 51% stake in his Beats headphone company last year. He took the top spot from U2, who had last year's #1 with $195 million thanks to their 360 tour. This year, U2 is down to #4 with $78 million.
Roger Waters of Pink Floyd gets #2 thanks to his The Wall tour. Elton John is at #3 and $80 million thanks to touring and Take That get #4 with a reunion tour that brought them $69 million.
Other notable mentions include Justin Bieber, who is the youngest artist on the list with music and merchandise sales of $55 million. Lady Gaga is also on the list at #13 with $52 million after coming in at #4 with $90 million last year. Beyonce, who had $40 million, actually made more than Jay-Z, who made $38 million.
This comes after he was named the top earner in hip-hop in September. Only Diddy, Jay-Z and Kanye West are the other hip-hip musicians to make this list.
Here is Forbes' Top 25 Highest-Paid Musicians of 2012:
1. Dr. Dre ($110 million)
2. Roger Waters ($88 million)
3. Elton John ($80 million)
4. U2 ($78 million)
5. Take That ($69 million)
6. Bon Jovi ($60 million)
7. Britney Spears ($58 million)
8. Paul McCartney ($57 million)
8. Taylor Swift ($57 million)
10. Justin Bieber ($55 million)
10. Toby Keith ($55 million)
12. Rihanna ($53 million)
13. Lady Gaga ($52 million)
14. Foo Fighters ($47 million)
15. Diddy ($45 million)
15. Katy Perry ($45 million)
17. Kenny Chesney ($44 million)
18. Beyonce ($40 million)
19. Red Hot Chili Peppers ($39 million)
20. Jay-Z ($38 million)
21. Coldplay ($37 million)
22. Adele ($35 million)
22. Kanye West ($35 million)
24. Michael Buble ($34 million)
25. Sade ($33 million)
