Forbes magazine’s “The World’s Highest Paid Musicians” list is out for 2014 and Beats Music founder Dr. Dre is on top.
This could be due to the $3 billion in sales that Beats Music did over the year, which helped earn Dre an estimated $620 million, beating out Beyoncé, the highest paid female musician, who came in second at $115 million.
The gap between Dr. Dre and Beyoncé is the largest gap in history between the first and second spots, with half a billion dollars separating them.
In fact, Dre’s commercial jackpot is more than the combined incomes of most of the rest of Forbes’ Top 10. The Eagles came in third at $100 million, while Bon Jovie and Bruce Springsteen finished fourth and fifth at $82 and $81 million, respectively.
To gauge these numbers Forbes adds together all musicians’ touring money, record sales, publishing royalties, merchandise, endorsements and other major business ventures. Their fiscal year ran from June 2013 to June 2014.
Earlier this year, Dre announced himself to be hip hop’s first billionaire.
“It’s safe to say headphones is a good business,” said DJ Khaled, commenting on the producer’s success.
Dr. Dre also came in at number three on the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Celebrities List, behind Beyoncé and LeBron James. The most powerful celebrities are pulled together through a long and arduous process. First is earnings, then the number of times each celebrity was mentioned in print, on TV and on the radio between June 1, 2013, and June 1, 2014, is taken into account. After that, the star’s social media presence and the amount of impact the person has on the entertainment industry are all considered before the final list is produced.
It’s been a good year for Dre on all fronts and from the looks of Beats Electronics’ partnership with Apple, the numbers likely won’t be falling anytime soon.
