Dr. Dre Named Forbes’ Highest-Paid Musician Of 2012

    Dr. Dre has been named Forbes’ Highest-Paid Musician of 2012.

    According to the publication, the West Coast veteran roped in $110 million in pretax earnings largely thanks to his Beats headphone line. “The brands are so aligned, Dre and Beats, it’s just who he is,” says former Def Jam president Kevin Liles. “If you look at the biggest earners, the guys have been doing it for 20 years … what’s happening now is people are really telling their truth.”

    Additional artists to make the cut include Rihanna, who ranks at No. 12 with $53 million, and Diddy, who ties with Katy Perry at No. 15 with $45 milion. Beyonce and Jay-Z come in at No. 18 and 20, respectively, with $40 million and $38 million. Kanye West makes the cut at No. 22 with $35 million, tying with Adele for the same position.

    Head over to Forbes.com to read more, and check the full list below.

    1. Dr Dre – $110 Million
    2. Roger Waters – $88 Million
    3. Elton John – $80 Million
    4. U2 – $78 Million
    5. Take That – $69 Million
    6. Bon Jovi – $60 Million
    7. Britney Spears – $58 Million
    8. Paul McCartney – $57 Million (tie)
    8. Taylor Swift – $57 Million (tie)
    10. Justin Bieber – $55 Million (tie)
    10. Toby Keith – $55 Million (tie)
    12. Rihanna – $53 Million
    13. Lady GaGa – $52 Million
    14. Foo Fighters – $47 Million
    15. Diddy – $45 Million (tie)
    15. Katy Perry – $45 Million (tie)
    17. Kenny Chesney – $44 Million
    18. Beyoncé – $40 Million
    19. Red Hot Chili Peppers – $39 Million
    20. Jay-Z – $38 Million
    21. Coldplay – $37 Million
    22. Adele – $35 Million (tie)
    22. Kanye West – $35 Million (tie)
    24. Michael Bublé – $34 Million
    25. Sade – $33 Million

    RELATED: Dr. Dre, Diddy & Jay-Z Top Forbes Cash Kings 2012 List

    106 thoughts on “Dr. Dre Named Forbes’ Highest-Paid Musician Of 2012

    1. How is this even possible when he hasn’t dropped any music? I been defending Dre forever, but I can’t even front any more, I think he’s kind of a fraud. Dre had a production team that was nothing short of an orchestra at his disposal at any given time in the 90s and early 2000s. Ever since he lost his production crew, all of his beats have sounded the same. Listen to all the beats he made in the past 7 years. They all have the same cadence, the same vibe, the same rhythm, the same sounds. It’s always a clankly piano loop, some strings, and a plodding bassline, and always at about at 87.5 tempo. They all sound like remixes of each other. It’s almost like he not only lost his production team, but he lost his equipment too. He never used a sampler any more. He never used anything except for that same stiff sounding keyboard that recycles the same sounds in a different order. I don’t know what artists are beholden to him through contract, but for him to be the top grossing artist without dropping any records leads me to believe that he’s got his hand in a lot of artists pockets in one way or another.

      1. bro he owns a record label. Hes getting a piece of everything em and 50 have done not to mention all the other shit hes got going on with his head phones, music out side of rap and who knows what else. This shit is posted by Forbes, they dont just guess and throw peoples names out there.

      2. People grow up and don’t have to or want to spend all week in a studio. People are always actin’ like Dre owes ’em something.

    2. Jay-Z is not worth close to $500mm. This guy exaggerates the extent of his holdings. He owns 5 or 6 clubs, publishing to his music, Roc Nation which may or may not have significant value 0.07% of the Nets, some small advertising companies, and a minor stake in a few hotels and restaurants. Jay is worth around $200mm at most.

      1. bro, listen to everything you just tried to downplay. He owns multiple night clubs, clothing companies, a much larger share than less than 1% of the nets, multiple advertising companies, roc nation, live nation endorsements, stakes in hotels and restaurants, not to mention royalties, tours, records, appearances…fucking idiot..

      2. and he probably has a pretty good investment team. A low risk mutual fund would garnish between 6.25-7.74% in annual interest. 100,000,000 million in a mutual fund for a year with that type of interest rate would get around $15 million in interest revenue. If he had 100 mil in the bank for several years, compounding interest could easily double or triple.

        He could easily be worth $500 million.

      3. jay-z actually owns 1/15th of 1 percent, of the nets. so yea, it is fair to say he makes it seem like he owns 40% or something. as far as him being worth 500 million, its possible, wasn’t rocafella clothing sold for 750 million many years back?

      1. Why cause Drake and Lil Wayne only made 12/17 million and didn’t cut the list? That’s still a lot of cheese so be happy hater.

      1. IF LIL WYANE AND bIRDMAN MADE MORE MONEY THEN WHY ARNT THEY ON THE FORBES LIST……THE DIFFERANCE BETWEEN DRE AND BIRDMAN IS THAT DRE DONT HAVE TO ACT RICH BUYING ALL THAT SHIT LIKE BIRDMAN THAT WHY BIRDMAN DIDNT MAKE THE LIST CAUSE SOON AS HE MAKES THE MONEY HE SPENDS IT AND GOES BROKE THAT WHY HE HAS TO PUT 500 MILLION SINGLES JUST TO MAKE THE MONEY HE LOST SPENDING IT ALL

    3. For the record, Michael Jackson earned $145 million this year $35 million more than the top-earning living musician. What a testament to his legacy.

      1. touring. Most of this list is because of touring. Roger Waters and Elton John don’t put out new albums, but they can do 1 concert and make 8+ million.

    4. Some of these people y’all are tripping over got more money from A) Concerts B) Movie Deals C) TV Shows D) Products E) Appearances.. money comes from several angles when you’re being marketed by the machine.. i.e. Rihanna, Justin Bieber..

    5. That;s headphone money, the fuck this nigga did this year other than appearing on that failure called GFID? and the classic GKMC
      nigga fuck that shit
      WHERE IS DETOX NIGGA

      and fuck the lupesection from kanyetothe
      fuck grafted from boxden
      and fuck ronnie too
      lil bitch
      bang bang

    6. GIVE ME A CHANCE
      Youtube is all about finding new artist, & though I been rapping for a while im still consider a new artist. I just want my music heard thats all, im not looking for no record deal, getting famous ‘r anything like that. I do music to help change the lives of others so what you’ll get from my music is all POSITIVITY! so please just spare a few sec. to check me out, & if you like what you heard please SUBSCRIBE so ill know you actually listen & support

      1. Niggas like Rozay are not as rich as they portray themselves to be, they tell you what they got and what they spent but never the about the bills behind that or how they got it, not saying that not making this list make one broke but Rozay may have seen 7 figures not 8.

    7. “People are on Dre about Detox and Dre never really wanted to do Detox. Hes 40-something years old, whats he going to talk about? Hes gotta relate to these 13 year olds buying records. What is he going to talk about? He cant come out here saying, “Fuck the police,” he cant keep talking about smoking weed, hes been there and done all that. Where is there to go now? But it has to be done and hes going to make sure that shit is right before he puts it out.”

      Even Bruce Willis knows Dre ain’t gonna do it, and y’all still talking about that Detox bullshit.

    8. “fuck dre I wanna know how much money Jimmy Iovine made in 2012!”

      Probably 5 billion or something like that. Small shit, not really something to discuss.

      1. Dre got rich and then jetted straight to the hills. Everybody knows he ain’t from Compton and he was never about that life he talks so much about, but the least he could do is give some money to the place he loves to talk about.

      2. Unless they’re listen to Chronic 2001 while wearing beats by Dre, Andre Young should have 0 fucks to give.

        I hate when people dream of what they could do with other people’s money yet do fuck all with their own*

        *you may be ‘giving back’, I cant prove/disprove that I’m just speaking in general

    9. what a funny world we’re livin into

      you got some people who go to college, get themselves an education, make their lives useful to the fellow man through their work as doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, scientists, etc. and they don’t get such an amount of money

      while on the other hand you have a bunch of ignorant mothafuckas singin in a booth, actin like a bunch of chimps on their video clips, sniffin huge lines of cocaine in parties, suckin each others dick on tv shows on how they appreciate each others, flattering themselves on award ceremonies, etc. and who make a LOT of money

      and you wonder why people chase after success …

      1. Isn’t becoming a Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer, Architect, or Scientist a form of success?
        With the exception of Lawyers and Architects. all of these career paths take very long. And every one of these careers require beyond college level education.

        Our education system is archaic in a day and age it where it should be streamlined (when you finished high school did you really feel like you needed 4 years to learn the shit you learned?)

        Not many people would choose to spend 12 years becoming a surgeon when you can spend a couple of years becoming an entertainer.

    10. I laugh at all of the children asking questions like “how did this person make that much, they didnt even put out any music this year” This is why you will always be poor and have no idea about life except what goes on in your box. Learning about things outside your box helps in personal growth. I understand you are only young and still dumb but please try harder to hide your stupidity, I waste seconds of my life trying to filter comments that would be mistaken to be from people with some form of mild mental retardation. Regards.

      1. ahah

        you’re fuckin right ! i didn’t even notice ! 50 cent did not made that list !

        this dude really felt off big time. he went from multiple platinum for his first albums, and now he ain’t makin money no more

      2. the list bottoms out at 33 million

        curtis and birdman still made millions this year

        they made more than your whole family will make in a lifetime

    11. “Now this, kids, is real money! That’s 8 figures for you. Rick Ross a 6 figure type of nigga”

      6 Figure??? LMAO fuck you and your life bitch how the fuck you gon call Rozay a 6 figure nigga when he a multi millionaire?!?! Dude can whipe his with 100 dollars bills all day long while you struggle to keep your job at Burger King and your job as a ho at the same time!! Fuck off stupid nigga you’s a hater

    12. i find it hard to believe these artists really take home these large amounts of money. Obviously Dre is making a killing though.

    13. The only person i would even be interested in looking to find on this list is Curtis jackson, he kinda still reps the streets. But who are the rest of these motherfuckers

      1. are you retarted? this is for ONE year dummy. jay didnt even drop an album this year or whore himself on tour for 300 days like rhianna did. he was too busy watching a pro team that he partly owns courtside! theres no way shes even sniffing his bank totals!

      2. Take Jay’s balls out of your mouth, he and Kanye did a Watch The Throne worldwide tour. AND he just did a bunch of shows at Barclay’s Arena. AND he did the Made In America festival.

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