Queen, Metallica and AC/DC among highest paid musicians of 2020

Billboard has published their annual list of the highest-earning musicians, and the numbers for 2020 have some metal and rock names ranking in the top 40.

Starting with the highest-earning and descending, those bands in rock / metal were the Eagles ($16.3 million), Queen ($13.2 million), The Beatles ($12.9 million), AC/DC ($10.1 million), Metallica ($9 million), Pink Floyd ($8.8 million), Tool ($6.17 million), KISS ($6 million), The Rolling Stones ($5.69 million) and Aerosmith ($5.35 million).

The Top 10 highest paid in pop and beyond were Taylor Swift ($23.8 million), Post Malone ($23.2 million), Celine Dion ($17.5 million), Billie Eilish ($14.7 million), Drake ($14.2 million), NBA YoungBoy ($11.9 million), Lil Baby ($11.7 million), The Weeknd ($10.4 million), Aventura ($10.2 million) and Eminem ($9.7 million).

Top 10 highest paid rock + metal bands of 2020:

Eagles ($16.3 million)
Streaming: $2.7M
Sales: $970K
Publishing: $1.2M
Touring: $11.4M

Queen ($13.2 million)
Streaming: $5.5M
Sales: $5.3M
Publishing: $2.4M
Touring: $0

The Beatles ($12.9 million)
Streaming: $5.1M
Sales: $5.2M
Publishing: $2.6M
Touring: $0

AC/DC ($10.1 million)
Streaming: $4.3M
Sales: $4M
Publishing: $1.8M
Touring: $0

Metallica ($9 million)
Streaming: $3.9M
Sales: $3.7M
Publishing: $1.4M
Touring: $0

Pink Floyd ($8.8 million)
Streaming: $3.2M
Sales: $4.3M
Publishing: $1.3M
Touring: $0

Tool ($6.17 million)
Streaming: $823.4K
Sales: $557K
Publishing: $611K
Touring: $4.2M

KISS ($6 million)
Streaming: $431K
Sales: $348K
Publishing: $194.5K
Touring: $5M

The Rolling Stones ($5.69 million)
Streaming: $2.97M
Sales: $1.8M
Publishing: $1.17M
Touring: $0

Aerosmith ($5.35 million)
Streaming: $1.33M
Sales: $564K
Publishing: $840K
Touring: $2.7M

The methodology behind Billboard’s Money Makers chart is as follows:

“Money Makers was compiled with 2020 U.S.-only MRC Data and Billboard Boxscore statistics. All revenue figures cited are Billboard estimates and, due to rounding, an artist’s total may not equal the sum of the subcategories. Revenue from merchandising, synchronization and sponsorship — and livestream concerts — is not included. Unless otherwise noted, streaming totals consist of combined on-demand audio, video and programmed streams.”

You can read the full article here.