Bruce Springsteen tops the list of top earning musicians. Mainly through one transaction

Although it seemed that in terms of profits it would be difficult to beat Jaya-Z and sell shares in Tidal and Armand de Brignac, at the very end of 2021 Bruce Springsteen added to the pool. The Sony company, under which the artist has been operating for many years, bought the rights to the Boss’s song catalog for $ 550 million. But that doesn’t mean Springsteen was lazy – he returned to touring Broadway in the summer, while offstage teamed up with Barack Obama. The gentlemen released a joint podcast and book “Renegades: Born in the USA”, which immediately gained considerable popularity.

So Jay-Z has to settle for second place. Who else managed to make it to the top ten?

Rolling Stone presents the list of the highest-paid artists of 2021

Jay-Z, who earned several hundred million dollars on transactions related to Tidal and Armand de Brignac, has also collaborated with Puma and Tiffany & Co. (he appeared in the advertising campaign with Beyoncé). “RS” reports that in 2021 the rapper hugged a total of $ 470 million. Paul Simon closes the podium on the list – just like Springsteen, the artist sold the rights to the catalog of his works to Sony. The package, for which Simon received over $ 250 million, includes both his solo works and those performed by the Simon and Garfunkel duo.

Kanye West (4th place) and Taylor Swift (10th place) recorded the greatest financial successes, beyond the sale of rights to the song catalog. In the case of the rapper, high profits were consistently achieved by his clothing brand Yeezy. The pair with the album “Donda” released in August brought West a revenue of $ 250 million. Meanwhile, Swift, the only woman on the “RS” list, continues the project of re-recording albums released by Big Machine Records. The albums “Red (Taylor’s Version)” and “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” achieved impressive sales results and, together with partnerships with Starbucks and Peloton, allowed the singer to earn about $ 80 million.

In addition to the names mentioned, the Rolling Stone list also included: Ryan Tedder (5th place, profit: $ 200 million), Red Hot Chilli Peppers (6th place, profit: $ 145 million), Lindsey Buckingham (place 7th, Profit: $ 100M), Mötley Crüe (8th, Profit $ 95M) and Blake Shelton (9th, Profit: $ 83M). All of them concluded contracts last year, under which they sold the rights to their works.