The Top 5 Global Music Moneymakers Will Surprise You
We’re all curious about superstars on so many levels, but especially when it comes to how much they make. There are several lists that come out every year that takes a look inside the top music moneymakers, but I especially like the one from Billboard. This list looks at the top 5, and you’ll probably be surprised at who’s there, and who’s not.
#1 – Queen. They rule this list and it isn’t even close. Lest you think that all the money comes from the Freddie Mercury movie, you’d be wrong since there was hardly any theater revenue last year. Besides that, the movie came out a couple of years ago. Queen made $48.7 million last year, according to Billboard. About $15 million of that came from streaming, with 7 billion streams.
#2 – Taylor Swift. You’d figure that she’d be in here somewhere. She re-released two of her previously best selling albums last year, and since she owned the masters, took home the lion’s share of the revenue. Her total take was $41.4 million, with a little less than half of that from streaming with 11.6 billion streams.
#3 – Billie Eilish. This one was almost as big a surprise as Queen, since she really hasn’t been around that long and doesn’t have much of a catalog. Billie’s managed to capture a totally loyal audience however, and that brought her $32.8 million last year. $13.6 million came from streaming with 13.7 billion streams.
#4 – BTS. This K-pop boy band brought in a total of $31.5 million, and about $8.5 million of that came from the U.S. They made $14.6 million from streaming on 17.3 billion streams.
#5 – Post Malone. Another shocker, but the Post man is a lot bigger than you may think. He brought in $29.7 million, of which $12 million came from over 10 billion streams.
One of the things that the top 5 global music moneymakers teach us is that streaming can really pay well, despite some popular beliefs. Of course, your streams have to be in the billions for that to happen, but that’s no longer a long shot for a truly global superstar.
