But in fact, his limitations were what made the 25-year-old wunderkind one of the greatest MCs to touch Gods green earth: He knew of his shortcomings, but relied on his voice and motivational messaging to resonate and crack through the toughest gangstas. Touring: $0. In 1987, MC Lyte bumrushed her way into hip-hops boys club with a throat-grabbing voice and dynamic lyricism that seemed well beyond her 16 years. He was crowned the Chosen One from the jump, and had LeBron-like expectations to overcome. Last years rank: Im not a player, I just crush a lot, Big Pun declared on the 1998 smash hit Still Not a Player from his debut album Capital Punishment. It's impossible to overstate the influence of rap on popular culture. A report from Billboard has revealed the highest-paid musicians and artists of 2020, and many of Hip-Hop's favorites are topping the list.. Amid a year with very little touring due to the pandemic, some of the biggest names in the music industry still managed to come out on top of Billboard's 2020 Money Makers list bringing in millions and millions of dollars. Billboard Quiz. 1 album, My Turn, which landed 12 songs simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 2020, vaulted him to No. Streaming: $10.6M The set was powered by the majestic Intl Players Anthem featuring OutKast. Aventura makes its debut on the Money Makers list, totally on the strength of its box office. 25, $7.37M), and Kanye West (No. According to Billboard's report, published on Monday (July 19), rappers Post Malone, Drake, YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Lil Baby are among the publication's Top Paid Musicians of 2020. Rozays Hustlin dreams turned to gold when he rattled the cages of raps mainstream with his 2006 summer anthem and pledged his allegiance to Def Jam and its ex-president Jay-Z. Latifahs subsequent jump into Hollywood proved to be just as impressive, earning accolades for her television work (Living Single) and an Oscar nod (the 2002 musicalChicago), and making her oneof the first MCs with the star power to prove how deeply a rapper could become embedded in American pop culture, even outside of the world of hip-hop. Strait was one of the few artists who made significant touring income before the pandemic. 22 ($8.2 million), Roddy Ricch at No. After an attempt on his life left him riddled with nine bullets, Curtis Jackson III revved up a meteoric resurrection. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100and anotherfour on the Billboard 200 albums chart are nothing to scoff at, as Ludacris chart resum can stand up to just about any of his rap contemporaries. Lil Baby rounds out the top 10 with $11.7 million. 35 The pandemic interrupted Joels quasi-monthly residency at Madison Square Garden, cutting the $23.2 million he took home from those shows in 2019 to $2.5 million in 2020. Starting in the early 00s with production on hits for Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel and Talib Kweli, Kanye West moved in front of the mic in 2003 with his solo debut, Through the Wire, then scored his first Hot 100 No. After signing with Dr. Dres Interscope imprint Aftermath Entertainment a year later, Lamar hit the ground running with second studio album good kid, m.A.A.d City becoming an instant creative and cultural force. Billboard has released its highest-paid musicians of 2020. Dr. Dre would be the first to tell you that he is not a traditional MC. Kid Rock, Detroit rapper Esham and Record Time's Mike Himes at the fighting for a name on the scrappy Detroit hip-hop scene of the '90s, . Before Power-ing up his TV empire, 50 Cent continued to top the charts with follow-ups like The Massacre and Curtis, while also making stars of his G-Unit label roster mates, including Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and The Game. But despite the crossover success, Wayne continued to feed his Mixtape Weezy fanbase with cult-favorite series like Da Drought, No Ceilings and Sorry 4 the Wait, and fearlessly reinvented himself with a rap-rock sound via 2010 album Rebirth, which continues to inspire new-school rappers like Lil Uzi Vert and Playboi Carti. And he hasnt gone more than four years without releasing an album since 1993. Ed Sheeran - $200 Million. Ross has notched 58 Billboard Hot 100 entries spanning three decades, but his legacy doesnt end there: His Maybach Music Group laid the tarmac for Meek Mill and Wale to take off and become titans in the 2010s. 22 All Rights Reserved. Outside of the top 10, The Weeknd ranks at No. Under his now-retired moniker Mos Def, Brooklyn native Bey broke into the underground scene on Rawkus Records influential 1997 compilationSoundbombingwith a charismatic presence that recalled the early 80s chief rocker days of Busy Bee Starski. 1 on Top Gospel Albums. 1 single, HUMBLE, the album won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first non-jazz or classical work to do so. A subscription per-stream rate of $0.0021 blended to reflect the different statutory rates for ad-supported and subscription streams was applied to programmed streams; per-play estimated rates of 74 cents and $46 were applied to Music Choice and SiriusXM plays, respectively. Between his Geto Boys tenure in the late 80s and his illustrious solo career stretching through the 2010s, Scarface laid bare the pitfalls of street life by presenting a stoic, pragmatic approach to hustling that differed from the flashy images glamorized by other artists. Abel Tesfayes alter ego may have been snubbed by the Grammys, but he fared exceptionally well when it came to royalties. 2 Money Maker thanks to a world tour, but without any live dates in 2020, her rank was achieved by strong streaming numbers largely due to her fourth-quarter release, positions. 10 in 2020 physical album sales with 402,000 copies scanned, helped by the deluxe box set rerelease of its concert film and album, Delicate Sound of Thunder. While the pandemic had a disastrous effect on touring revenue, it lifted other royalty streams as music fans listened to more recorded music from the relative safety of their homes, through radio, streaming platforms or the turntable setups they bought with the money they ordinarily would have shelled out for concerts and festivals. As is well known, GOAT and similar best-of lists always draw their share of criticism and praise from industry pundits and the public alike. The Staten Island lyricist draws from a Technicolor palette of inimitable slang, colorful character profiles, luxurious wares and slippery flows to craft vibrant, imaginative stories. Touring: $0. what challenges do advertisers face with product placement? The Greatest of All Time, aka the GOAT. BILLIE EILISH. Streaming: $1.3M NBA YoungBoy $11.9 million10. Sales: $800K All Rights Reserved. Publishing: $838K Streaming: $939.5K The haunted hip-hop persona of Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn scored his seventh Billboard 200 No. Publishing: $1.53M Royalties from recorded masters and publishing income made up the difference. Big Daddy Kane was an early rap star archetype thanks to his show-stealing performances in the late 1980s. Publishing: $2.4K Streaming: $8.1M The fledgling labels first album to crack the top 50, Radio spent 38 weeks on the Billboard 200 and claimed platinum status in 1989. He earned $2 million in publishing and $712,500 in sales. The highest-paid hip-hop artists of 2021 have been revealed and JAY-Z and Kanye West once again top the list. The rockers also racked up 1.3 billion in combined streams that translated to $3.9 million in royalties. He earned $10 million in combined streaming royalties including over 1.4 billion in video streams, 6.2 billion in audio streams, and almost 7 billion in overall combined streams. ! And with those iconic words from the powerful 1993 anti-domestic violence statement U.N.I.T.Y., Queen Latifah cut through all the misogynistic noise. Around that time, Wayne joined The Hot Boys with fellow rappers Juvenile, B.G., and Turk and they topped Billboards Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in 1999 with Guerilla Warfare. Snoop Lion. Wave had zero physical sales last year. At this point, hip-hop purists know Nas path to greatness all too well. By Devin. Publishing: $436.3K He also picked up a nice chunk of change from 132,000 vinyl album sales in 2020, including the 10th-anniversary three-LP release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. As the legendary rap duo UGK, Bun B and the late Pimp C kept the spotlight on Texas while taking the baton from the Scarface-led triad Geto Boys. Where he really shone, though, was on terrestrial radio: Bieber was the top artist in the category with almost 2.4 million plays. But with his peerless technical skills, larger-than-life personality and turn-of-the-century run of classic albums, Slim Shady has rightfully earned his spot in the upper echelon of GOAT rappers lists. The band ranked third in physical sales selling 671,000 copies of its albums, 78% of which were vinyl reissues that are priced higher than CDs and thus pay higher royalties. The Wu-Tang Clan member possesses it all: unmistakable voice, impenetrable flow, witty rhymes, dark sense of humor, charm and good looks that also translated into Hollywood success. LLs list of achievements includes being the first rapper to be awarded the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor. In 1991, Large Professor tossed him an alley-oop on Main Sources posse cut Live at the Barbeque, and Escobar delivered a rim-rocker of a performance. The Weeknd $10.4 million12. Last years rank: 1 overall streaming artist (as he was in 2019) with almost 8 billion streams when the on-demand video and web radio streams he amassed last year are included. YoungBoy Never Broke Again breaks into Money Makers for the first time, due almost entirely to the prodigious number of streams his music generated. Those releases helped Slim Shady reach No. 1 live touring revenue generator for 2020, that amounts to $17 million in take-home pay, which puts Dion at the top of the concert earnings ranking and accounted for over 98% of her overall 2020 income. Streaming: $5.9M NBA YoungBoy is the third highest paid rapper in 2020 behind Drake and Post Malone who was the highest earner. 9 with $11.9 million. Billboard and Vibe are counting down the best MCs ever in honor of hip-hop's 50th anniversary. Capital Punishment also topped the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and peaked at No. Pink Floyd hasnt released a studio album since 2014 and it still managed to finish at No. Touring: $0. countdown to spring training 2022; Hola mundo! He led Run-DMC to historic heights, as they became the first hip-hop group to flex B-Boy minimalism to the masses(Sucker MCs), go gold (1984s King of Rock), appear on MTV, reach multiplatinum status (with 1986s landmarkRaising Hell, punctuated by the boundary-breaking Aerosmith collab Walk This Way), headline arena tours and ink a major endorsement deal (Adidas). Money Makers was compiled with 2020 U.S.-only MRC Data and Billboard Boxscore statistics. Down to earth and humble, Cole possesses a passion that pulsates throughout his raps and beats. Reviving gangsta rap in the process, Get Rich also nabbed a stunning nine-times platinum RIAA certification. And though he generated almost 3 billion more streams than Taylor Swift, he takes second place in streaming royalties because Swift owns her masters and is paid more per stream. On Chronic, his 1992 triple-platinum-certified gangsta rapopus, Dre also exhibits an effortless delivery on the mic, with a commanding voice thats one of the genres most recognizable. 24, $7.4M), Rod Wave (No. 17 6 1s on Billboards Hot Rap Songs chart No Time, Not Tonight (Ladies Night Remix) and Crush on You making her the first female rapper to do so. Last years rank: His streaming figures accounted for $9.1 million, thanks to his chart-topping album My Turn, for which 12 songs simultaneously charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Song Quiz. In 2020, however, they played 20 shows to 215,000 fans behind their 2019 No. From there, Pusha became a fashion icon and served as president of Wests label, while continuing to release well-received solo albums full of vivid descriptions of his drug hustling and emotional struggles. "Things got bigger and betterGod is great," says DJ Khaled, who ranks No. 1. 3 (although its deluxe status means that it wont be counted as a separate entry on Billboards charts.) Sales: $4.3M Streaming: $4.3M 1 Hot 100 hits, sold 25 million albums and account for raps most recent album of the year win at the Grammys. talladega high school basketball.