The 20 Highest-Paid Hip Hop Artists Of The Year

By Amy Lamare on September 30, 2019 in Articles › Entertainment

Right now y'all, it is Kanye's world and we all just live in it. Yeezy is the highest-paid hip hop star of the year with an asterisk. Why the asterisk? Well, that's because Kanye did not make the bulk of his massive payday this year from music. He made it from his wildly popular Yeezy line of sneakers for Adidas. Now, that's still an awesome feat and crazy money, we're not taking that away from him. What Kanye is throwing down, from sneakers to his Sunday Service, people are snapping up. Yeezy is on track for a $1.5 billion year, putting Kanye's pretax income at $150 million. This is the first time Kanye has topped the list of the highest-paid hip hop artists. He easily toppled Jay-Z from the top spot, nearly earning double Mr. Carter's $81 million. Drake, the most streamed artist in any genre, rounds out the top three with $75 million.

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Women make their mark on this list in the 12^th and 13^th spots with Nicki Minaj and Cardi B with $29 million and $28 million respectively. Cardi B is also the youngest person on the list at 26. Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino is one of two newcomers on the list with $35 million and 10^th place. Cardi B also makes the list of the highest paid in hip hop for the first time.

The top 20 acts in hip hop made a combined $860 million, which is up 33% from last year's $648 million. Pitbull is the 20^th hip hop artist on the list, with an $18 million haul, the highest the minimum earnings have ever been.

#20. Pitbull – $18 million

#19. Wiz Khalifa – $18.5 million

#18. Nas – $19 million

#17. Future – $19.5 million

#16. Birdman – $20 million

#15. Nicki Minaj – $20 million

#14. Meek Mill – $21 million

#13. Swizz Beatz – $23 million

#12. Cardi B – $28 million

#11. J. Cole – $31 million

#10. Childish Gambino – $35 million

#9. Migos – $36 million