Forbes list of the world's highest-paid musicians

The highest-paid musicians^[1][2][3] in the world have been reported annually by Forbes since at least 1987. For measurement, the magazine used pretax earnings—before deducting fees for agents, managers or lawyers.^[4] Most of the lists were estimated within a June-to-June scoring period, except for 1999, 2021, and 2022 when a calendar year period was used instead.^[5][6][7]

U2 became the annual highest-paid musician five times, more than any other act. They were also the highest-paid music group in a record eight different years. Michael Jackson became the first musician to earn over $100 million in a year (1989),^[8] and has become the highest-paid male soloist a record seven times. Dr. Dre currently holds the record for the highest annual earnings for a musician, collecting $620 million in 2014, mainly through the sales of his headphone-manufacturing company, Beats Electronics.^[9]

Madonna is the first woman in music to earn $100 million for a year (2009) and has become the highest-paid female musician a record 11 times. Taylor Swift remains the female musician with the highest annual earnings ever with $185 million in 2019, breaking previous record set by herself in 2016 with $170 million.^[10][11]