It’s no secret that 2020 was a weird year for music.
With the pandemic bringing virtually everything to a standstill, the entertainment industry, who in case you haven’t noticed rely HEAVILY on large crowds, was one of the hardest hit.
Many artists were forced to cancel shows which meant no money for them, their bands, their crews, managers, lighting and sound techs, catering, security, booking… it takes a village to put on a tour.
Put it this way, Taylor Swift returned to the top of Billboard’s Money Makers List in 2020, but she only made $23.8 million. In 2018, she made nearly $100 million.
The entire list of 40 artists made $387 million last year, which was WAY down from the $969 million the group brought in the year before.
But let’s not kid ourselves, they’re still making a TON of money.
So without further ado, here’s Billboard’s top 40 money makers from last year:
Coming in at #16 on the list is Luke Combs, the highest paid country artist of 2020 with $9.2 million. He’s followed by #26 George Strait, who made $6.9 million, and finally #28 Blake Shelton with $6.7 million.
Luke Combs generated 102.26 million streams in a single week, breaking his own record for the largest streaming week for a country album. He wound up earning $5.5 million from streams alone.
King George managed to squeeze a couple shows in before the pandemic earning him $4.2 million, and tack on another $2.1 million in streams and still managed to have himself a decent year.
Blake’s combination of album sales, streams and pre-pandemic shows put him at #28 on the list, good enough for #3 on the list of country singers.
Taylor Swift topped the list with $23.8 million, followed by Post Malone with 23.2 million.
Other notable artists in the top 10 include Eagles, Drake, The Beatles and more.
Here’s the full Billboard top 40 list:
1. Taylor Swift: $23.8M
2. Post Malone: $23.2M
3. Céline Dion: $17.5M
4. Eagles: $16.3M
5. Billie Eilish: $14.7M
6. Drake: $14.2M
7. Queen: $13.2M
8. The Beatles: $12.9M
9. YoungBoy Never Broke Again: $11.9M
10. Lil Baby: $11.7M
11. The Weeknd: $10.4M
12. Aventura: $10.2M
13. AC/DC: $10.1M
14. Eminem: $9.7M
15. Lil Uzi Vert: $9.5M
16. Luke Combs: $9.2M
17. DaBaby: $9.1M
18. Metallica: $9M
19. BTS: $8.9M
20. Pink Floyd: $8.8M
21. Bad Bunny: $8.4M
22. Future: $8.2M
23. Ariana Grande: $7.5M
24. Roddy Ricch: $7.4M
25. Rod Wave: $7.37M
26. George Strait: $6.9M
27. The Lumineers: $6.8M
28. Blake Shelton: $6.7M
29. Fleetwood Mac: $6.6M
30. Kanye West: $6.3M
31. Justin Bieber: $6.22M
32. Tool: $6.17M
33. KISS: $6M
34. The Rolling Stones: $5.96M
35. Travis Scott: $5.82M
36. Ed Sheeran: 5.66M
37. Halsey: 5.55M
38. Harry Styles: 5.51M
39. Billy Joel: $5.49M
40. Aerosmith: $5.35M
