Billboard has published its list of 2020 Money Makers and unsurprisingly, several rappers have made the cut. As explained in the article, the COVID-19 pandemic made a major dent in everyone’s income considering the concert industry was non-existent, which is where a large percent of artists make their money.
Music’s top earners collectively pulled in $387 million last year, down from $969 million the year prior. Even so, rappers such as Drake, Lil Baby and Eminem still raked in million of dollars thanks to the increase in streaming.
Pop princess Taylor Swift took the crown with $23.8 million. In the No. 6 spot this year is Drake, who earned $14.2 million. With almost eight billion streams, he pulled in $11.7 million just from streaming. YoungBoy Never Broke Again settled at No. 9 with $11.9 million, while Lil Baby follows closely behind at No. 10 with #$11.7 million. Other notable rap-acts include Eminem at No. 14 with $9.7 million, Lil Uzi Vert at No. 15 with $9.5 million, DaBaby at No. 17 with $9.1 million and Future at No. 22 with $8.2 million.
“Recorded-music royalties — from sales, streaming and publishing — collectively grew 56 percent, from $197 million in 2019 to $308 million,” the article states. Looking at touring income, based on Billboard Boxscore data, fell tenfold, from $779 million in 2019 to $79 million and accounted for just 20% of artists’ collective 2020 take-home pay. In previous years, it has made up 75% to 80% of the top 40 Money Makers’ income.