Forbes Rich list: Dr Dre is the world's highest-paid musician

Dr Dre has been named as the world's highest-paid musician largely because of his $3bn Beats Music sale.

15:43 11 December 2014

The annual Forbes Rich list has revealed that Dr Dre is 2014’s highest paid musician in the world, thanks to his $3bn Beats Music sale. As such he scored the biggest one-year windfall of any musician in history. He earned an estimated $620million in just 12 months.

Meanwhile, Beyoncé, who is second on the list with $115million earnings has been named 2014’s highest-earning female musician.

Incredibly, Dre’s commercial jackpot (which is owed almost entirely to his successful range of headphones and audio equipment) is more than the combined incomes of musicians who made it to the top 10. Justin Bieber earned $80m. One Direction, $75m. Paul McCartney, the only Beatle, settled for $71m. The most successful band, the heavy-touring Eagles, finished at No 3, garnering $100m over the year.

Madonna, who was last year’s highest earning musician, narrowly missed Forbes’ 2014 Top 30 altogether.

Forbes’ top 10 highest-paid musicians are:

1. Dr Dre ($620m)
2. Beyoncé ($115m)
3. The Eagles ($100m)
4. Bon Jovi ($82m)
5. Bruce Springsteen ($81m)
6. Justin Bieber ($80m)
7. One Direction ($75m)
8. Paul McCartney ($71m)
9. Calvin Harris ($66m)
10. Toby Keith ($65m)

The rest of the top 30 list are as follows:

11. Taylor Swift ($64m)
12. Jay Z ($60m)(tie)
12. Diddy ($60m)(tie)
12. Bruno Mars ($60m)(tie)
15. Justin Timberlake ($57m)
16. Pink ($52m)
17. Michael Bublé ($51m)
18. Rihanna ($48m)
19. Rolling Stones ($47m)
20. Roger Waters ($46m)
21. Elton John ($45m)
22. Kenny Chesney ($44m)
23. Katy Perry ($40m)
24. Jason Aldean ($37m)(tie)
24. Jennifer Lopez ($37m)(tie)
26. Miley Cyrus ($36m)(tie)
26. Celine Dion ($36m)(tie)
28. Muse ($34m)(tie)
28. Luke Bryan ($34m)(tie)
30. Lady Gaga ($33m)(tie)
30. Drake ($33m)(tie)