Some of these entertainers have become billionaires overnight just by selling the rights to films and hit songs.
Here’s a list of Forbes’s top 10 richest entertainers in 2022:
- Peter Jackson – $580 million
The director famed for Lord of the Rings sold his visual effects company Weta Digital to Unity Software for a cool $1.6 billion in November. He is number three on the list of billionaire moviemakers after Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
- Bruce Springsteen – $435 million
Springsteen sold all his work to Sony Music Group in December. The sale is valued at almost $500 million and includes five decades of his songs and recordings from 20 of his albums.
- Jay-Z – $340 million
Hip hop’s first billionaire cashed out his stakes in Tidal and the Armand de Brignac champagne brand in 2021.
- Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – $270 million
The Rock doesn’t make as much money from his movies like Jungle Cruise and Red Notice as we think. His sizeable pay cheque in fact comes from his tequila brand Teremana.
- Kanye West – $235 million
The billionaire rapper/producer’s money comes from designing Yeezy sneakers for Adidas. His first batch of Yeezy was for the Gap, which comprised a hoodie and a jacket.
- Trey Parker and Matt Stone-$210 million
The creators of South Park oversee a cottage industry that now makes more than $80 million a year, and in August they signed a six-year, $900 million deal with Paramount.
- Paul Simon – $200 million
Once part of the famous duo Simon and Garfunkel, the musician sold hundreds of songs including Mrs Robinson, 59th Street Bridge Song and the Sound of Silence to Sony Music Publishing for $250 million in March.
- Tyler Perry – $165 million
The billionaire creator of the Madea franchise makes most of his income from a multi-year production deal with BET and his 330-acre production studio in Atlanta.
- Ryan Tedder – $160 million
Tedder has written more than 500 songs for his own band One Republic and on top of that, he has also penned hits for Beyoncé, Adele, and Ed Sheeran. He sold his song catalogue to investment firm KKR in January this year.
- Bob Dylan- $130 million
The 80-year-old Nobel laureate transferred his music to Sony in July for $150 million. This was in addition to a mega deal where he reportedly sold his publishing catalogue to Universal for $400 million.
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