Former Forbes Senior Editor Zack O’Malley Greenburg released his rankings of the highest-paid Hip Hop artists for 2021. The Substack contributor listed Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter ($470 million), Kanye “Ye” West ($250 million), Sean “Diddy” Combs ($75 million), and Aubrey Drake Graham ($50 million) as the leaders of the pack.
O’Malley’s Zogblog newsletter got picked up by other outlets, including the Boardroom. Drake jumped into the sports business publication’s Instagram comment section to share his reaction to the estimated financial hierarchy.
The Certified Lover Boy album creator did not write any actual words under the Boardroom Instagram post. Champagne Papi simply left a single “😂” emoji which collected more than 1,100 likes from other IG users.
Zack O’Malley Greenburg spent over ten years at Forbes before launching his Zogblog in April 2021. The author of the Jay-Z biography, Empire State of Mind, previously curated the annual “Highest-Paid Hip Hop Acts” column for the century-old business magazine.
According to Vibe, Wiz Khalifa ($45 million) made O’Malley’s Top 5 too. The rest of rap’s leading earners reportedly include Travis Scott ($38 million), DJ Khaled ($35 million), Eminem ($28 million), J. Cole ($27 million), Birdman ($25 million), Doja Cat ($25 million), and Tech N9ne ($25 million).
Zack O’Malley Greenburg’s calculations differ from numbers presented by Forbes. A February 9 article written by Lisette Voytko approximated Jay-Z’s 2021 income at $340 million not $470 million, Kanye West’s income at $235 million not $250 million, and Diddy’s income at $90 million not $75 million.