From Taylor Swift To Lady Gaga: The Richest Musicians Of The Decade

After being crowned Billboard’s Woman of the Decade and garnering multiple Grammy award nominations, Taylor Swift has ended 2019 with a bang. But now, a new report reveals that Swift is not just raking in awards but a whole lot of money, too, in her bank account.

According to a list released by Forbes, the “You Need To Calm Down” songstress is the second highest-paid musician of the decade. The singer earned a whopping $825 million from 2010–2019. Swift released a total of five studio albums – “Speak Now” (2010), “Red” (2012), “1989” (2014), “Reputation” (2017) and “Lover” (2019) – during this time.

All the albums were certified “Platinum” from various music companies.

Meanwhile, she did 334 tour shows since 2010 and earned more than $700 million because of all the live tours. The news of Swift being the second highest-paid celebrity of the decade comes a couple of days after she was recognized as the highest-paid celebrity of the year. She earned a staggering $185 million in 2019.

The earnings have been measured according to the pre-tax earnings during the 10-year period. Fees for lawyers, agents, managers, and living expenses have not been deducted.

Meanwhile, topping the list was none other than Dr. Dre. Even though he only released one album this decade and barely toured, his business ventures have made him nab the top spot in the coveted list. The rapper earned a total of $925 million this decade, thanks to a multi-billion dollar deal with Apple that bought Dre’s company Beats.

Beyonce Knowles went on to grab the third position on the list. With earnings of $685 million this decade, she has made almost $120 million more than what her husband and rapper Jay-Z earned in this period. Beyonce’s husband accumulated $560 million since 2010 and interestingly, two of his biggest tours – “On The Run” and “On The Run II” – were in collaboration with his wife Beyonce that went on to gross more than $360 million.

For the first time, the list included four female musicians. Apart from Swift and Beyonce, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga were also part of the group that earned more than $500 million this decade. Perry earned $530 million during this period, with two of her separate tours grossing nine figures.

On the other hand, Gaga, even after taking some pauses in her music career, earned $500 million. The other notable names in the list included the likes of Paul McCartney, Diddy, Elton John and U2.

The full list of Forbes’ Highest-Paid Musicians of this Decade is as follows:

Dr. Dre - $950 million

Taylor Swift - $825 million

Beyonce Knowles - $685 million

U2 - $675 million

Diddy - $605 million

Elton John - $565 million

Jay-Z - $560 million

Paul McCartney - $535 million

Katy Perry - $530 million

Lady Gaga - $500 million