The music business is one of the most lucrative industries in the world, but also one of the most cut-throat too. For those who have avoided becoming one-hit wonders or washed-up rock stars, however, it has provided fame and fortune beyond their wildest dreams. From rock legends who rake in millions from touring and song royalties to modern-day music stars-turned-business moguls, read on to discover the music world's richest stars today based on their net worths. All dollar amounts in US dollars.

Jon Bon Jovi has been a staple of classic rock music for almost four decades, forming his eponymous band in 1983. Their first two albums achieved minor success but their third release, 1986’s iconic Slippery When Wet, catapulted the band to global stardom. Selling over 30 million copies worldwide, it contains legendary crowd-pleasers such as Livin’ on a Prayer and You Give Love a Bad Name.

In addition to 15 studio albums with the band, Bon Jovi has also released two critically-acclaimed solo albums. He's also penned hits for the likes of Cher, and in 2009 was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Bon Jovi  also dabbled in acting in the 1990s, enjoying guest roles in shows including Sex and the City and Ally McBeal. His songwriting royalties and touring income have earned him an estimated fortune of around $410 million (£298m).

Barbra Streisand was named by Forbes as one of America’s richest self-made women in 2021, which is no surprise given her awe-inspiring resume. She’s the only artist in history to have had a number one album in six consecutive decades, and her albums and tours have grossed hundreds of millions worldwide.

The actress, singer and comedienne is also a member of the exclusive EGOT Club, meaning she has won a Grammy, Emmy, Oscar and a Tony Award. Since 1969’s Funny Girl launched her film career, earning her a Best Actress Oscar in the process, Streisand has enjoyed success in both the music and movie industries. However, most of her wealth has been amassed through her musical talents, earning her a fortune of $415 million (£301.5m) according to Forbes.

Mick Jagger might have the means to retire to one of his many mansions but the 78-year-old frontman shows no signs of slowing down yet. His band The Rolling Stones, which is set to celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2022, is currently on a US tour – though the show must go on without drummer Charlie Watts, who sadly passed away in August.

Jagger has tried his hand at many things over the course of his decades-spanning career, including acting and solo music projects. However, most of his fortune comes from The Rolling Stones via his songwriting and touring. He has a staggering net worth of $427 million (£310m), according to The Sunday Times Rich List 2021.

Beyoncé is a versatile performer across music, movies and business. It's no surprise that 'Queen Bey' was the breakout star of the 90s girl group Destiny's Child, and her career has only gone from strength to strength since the release of her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love, in 2003. Billboard named her the highest-earning Black musician of all time in 2014 (though she's since been knocked off the top spot) and her On the Run II tour grossed more than $250 million (£181.6m) in 2018.

Beyoncé has made a fortune not only from her music career but also from acting, with her vocal performance as Nala in the 2019 Lion King reboot banking her a cool $25 million (£18.2k). She has also grown her net worth through a number of savvy business endeavours and brand endorsements, including the launches of her own perfume line and fashion brand. The megastar has a fortune of $440 million (£319.7m), according to Forbes. 

Powerhouse vocalist Celine Dion has sold more than 220 million albums worldwide since skyrocketing to success in the 1990s, solidifying her status as one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The Canadian songstress has a true rag-to-riches tale. The youngest of 14 children, she slept in a drawer as a child – but now has a mammoth net worth of $460 million (£334m), according to Forbes, and lives in a $1.2 million (£872k) Las Vegas mansion. 

Most of Dion's wealth has been amassed through tours and Las Vegas residencies. However, Dion recently announced on her social media platforms that her upcoming Vegas residency was being cancelled due to health issues. The European leg of her sell-out Courage tour was also postponed last year due to the pandemic but has since been rescheduled to 2023.

Singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen has captured the hearts of fans for decades with his heartland rock songs, which depict the lives of ordinary working-class Americans. 'The Boss' has sold more than 150 million records worldwide since the 1970s, with his 1984 album Born in the U.S.A. selling upwards of 30 million copies. It's now one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Springsteen frequently tops Forbes'  lists of the highest-earning stars. In 2014 alone, he raked in a staggering $81 million (£59m), mostly due to his High Hopes Tour, which grossed more than $4 million (£2.9m) a night. In 2018, he banked $37.5 million (£27.2m) thanks to his Broadway show, the aptly-titled Springsteen on Broadway, which also earned him a Tony Award. Various sources estimate Springsteen to have a sizeable net worth of around $500 million (£363m).

Since his breakthrough with Your Song in 1970, Elton John has gone on to become one of the most iconic musicians of all time. So renowned, in fact, that he even had a movie made about his life in 2019. Rocketman was a hit with critics and fans alike, and scored accolades including a pair of Golden Globes and an Academy Award. John, whose actual name is Reginald Kenneth Dwight, has sold over 300 million albums globally. His ongoing Farewell Yellow Brick Road show has so far made $358.6 million (£260m), despite the pandemic forcing the postponement of dates on the 300-show, five-continent tour.

According to The Sunday Times Rich List 2021, he has an astounding fortune of $517 million (£375m). Although the star likes to splash his cash on the likes of Porsches and private jets, he’s also a famed philanthropist. In April 2020, for example, the Elton John AIDS Foundation announced a $1 million emergency fund to assist those living with HIV in maintaining their treatment during COVID-19.

The Taylor Swift story has all the makings of a movie: a small town girl moves to Tennessee to cut her teeth as a country musician, gets discovered, then becomes one of the world's biggest popstars... At just 31 years old, Swift already has an incredible list of accomplishments. She has sold over 200 million records worldwide, won 11 Grammys, and was even named Artist of the Decade by the American Music Awards in 2020.

Swift's net worth is a whopping $550 million (£399m), according to Forbes. There's no question that the songstress has worked hard for her fortune. In 2020, she released not one but two best-selling albums – and all while re-recording her past albums, following an explosive row with her former management.

Madonna has been revolutionising the music industry since her self-titled debut album was released in 1983, earning her the title 'Queen of Pop'. Her audacious theatrical stage presence and bold personal style has helped her sell more than 300 million albums, as well as influence musicians of all generations, including Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, and, more recently, Dua Lipa, to name just a few.

According to Forbes, the megastar has grossed an estimated $1.2 billion (£872m) over the course of her decades-spanning career. Her current net worth stands at a staggering $550 million (£399m).

Famed for his "beach bum" persona and music that epitomises a dreamy island lifestyle, Jimmy Buffett began his musical career in the 1960s. Released in 1977, his hit song Margaritaville – named after the popular cocktail – has been credited as one of the 'Songs of the Century' by the Recording Industry of America.

Buffett has created an empire built around the track's success, launching a string of restaurants, bars, hotels, and casinos, most of which are named after the hit single. These ventures are part of his company, Margaritaville Holdings, and he also owns Margaritaville Foods, which produces chips, guacamole, salsa, shrimp, and chicken. He also makes beer in partnership with giant brewers Anheuser-Busch. All in all, it's estimated by various sources that Buffett has a fortune somewhere in the region of $550 million (£399m). 

Born in Madrid in 1943, a young Julio Iglesias originally set out to be a professional footballer. In a cruel twist of fate, he was involved in a car crash at the age of 20 that left him unable to walk for two years. While recovering in hospital, however, a nurse gave him a guitar to help him regain mobility in his hands. Iglesias uncovered his musical talent and is now one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all time, having sold over 100 million records worldwide.

Iglesias has an estimated fortune of $600 million (£436m). However, the star has recently faced scrutiny due to the Pandora Papers leak, which revealed he used shell companies to amass a real estate portfolio in Florida. He has also previously come under fire for allegedly not paying taxes in his home country of Spain.

U2 frontman Bono rose to prominence with his band in the early 1980s and has enjoyed success for over four decades. Musical success aside, Bono has also made a series of shrewd business investments to help expand his wealth. He financed the refurbishment of the Clarence Hotel in Dublin, for example, transforming the run-down building into a chic boutique resort in the 1990s, and has also invested in Elevation Partners, which owns shares in Forbes Media Group and Facebook.

A famed philanthropist, Bono also sits on the board for Zipline, a drone delivery company focused on delivering medical supplies to developing nations in Africa. Thanks to his various ventures, the Irish singer-songwriter has amassed a fortune that is estimated to be in the region of $600 million (£436m).

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s bank account haemorrhaged funds during the pandemic. The English composer and theatre impresario reportedly lost  $379 million (£275m) as a result of COVID-19 shutting his seven venues in London's West End; he stated at the time that the closures were costing him $1.4 million (£1m) monthly.

Despite this, Lloyd Webber still has a fortune of $723 million (£525m), according to The Sunday Times Rich List 2021. He’s the force behind some of the world’s most famed and longest-running Broadway and West End musicals after all, including Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, with The New York Times once referring to him as "the most commercially successful composer in history".

Dr. Dre might well have been a high school dropout but he's still gone on to amass a fortune in the region of $780 million (£567m). His music career began in the 80s, when he began performing as a DJ in nightclubs. He achieved fame in that same decade when he co-founded hip-hop group N.W.A. However, it wasn't until he became a record producer that his career really took off.

While he's been instrumental in the success of artists including 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem, most of Dre's riches have come from Beats, the headphone company he founded in 2006 after feeling dissatisfied with other brands on the market. In 2014, he sold Beats to Apple for more than $3 billion (£2.2bn), one of the tech brand’s biggest-ever acquisitions.

He may not have the same levels of recognition as some of the other stars on our list but jazz musician and trumpeter Herb Alpert still has many achievements under his belt. His career began in the 1960s, when he was band leader of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, with highlights including five number one albums, nine Grammy awards, and 72 million worldwide record sales.

Additionally, Alpert started the record label A&M Records with his friend Jerry Moss in 1962. The label grew into one of the biggest in the world, signing talent such as The Police, Supertramp, Bryan Adams, The Carpenters, and Janet Jackson. Alpert and Moss sold the record label to PolyGram in 1989 for $500 million (£363m) in cash – a whopping $1.1 billion (£799m) in today’s money. It’s believed that the bulk of Alpert’s reported $850 million (£618m) fortune derives from this.

Rapper Sean Combs has gone by many monikers over the course of his career: Puffy, Puff Daddy, P Diddy and, more recently, Love. In 1993, he was fired from his position as a talent director at Uptown Records in New York, which inspired him to start his own label, Bad Boy Entertainment. He went on to sign the likes of Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey, and The Notorious B.I.G., releasing his own debut album in 1997 and establishing himself as a successful artist in his own right.

He is the head of Combs Enterprises, an umbrella company for his portfolio of businesses. These include a clothing line, two restaurants, and a stake in Ciroc Vodka. All in all, his various ventures and investments have earned him an estimated fortune in the region of $855 million (£621m).

Despite the pandemic grinding tours to a halt, Sir Paul McCartney still managed to grow his net worth by a cool $27 million (£20m) in 2020, making him the UK’s richest musician. The former Beatle famously penned most of the band’s songs with John Lennon, meaning he also rakes in a fortune in royalties every year. In addition, the music legend owns a treasure trove of music publishing rights from the likes of Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins.

According to Forbes, McCartney grossed over $100 million (£72.6m) thanks to solo shows performed in 2019. His immense fortune is pegged at $1.1 billion (£820m), according to The Sunday Times Rich List 2021, making him a US dollar billionaire.

Rapper-turned-mogul Jay-Z was declared hip-hop's first billionaire in 2019 thanks to his sprawling business empire. His music career began in 1996 when he launched his Roc-A-Fella label, releasing his first studio album, Reasonable Doubt, later that year. He has since gone on to sell over 125 million records worldwide and has won 23 Grammy awards – the most ever attained by a rapper.

However, Jay-Z's music career earnings are just the tip of the iceberg. His business interests range from his entertainment company, Roc Nation, to a $70 million (£51m) fine art collection, via his own fashion line and two luxury drinks brands: Armand de Brignac Champagne and D'Ussé Cognac. He's also a man who knows how to spot a good investment. His portfolio includes stakes in some of the world's biggest companies, including Uber and SpaceX. According to Forbes, his net worth is an astonishing $1.4 billion (£1bn).

Rihanna first stepped onto the scene back in 2005 after signing with the Def Jam music label. While her first two Caribbean-inspired records were moderate successes, it was the release of her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, which featured her smash-hit single Umbrella, that cemented her status as a household name. The Barbadian songstress has since gone on to sell over 250 million records worldwide.

Despite her musical prowess, it’s actually her sharp business sense that Rihanna must thank for her enviable bank balance. Rihanna launched the cosmetics line Fenty Beauty in 2017 in partnership with LVMH, with the make-up brand raking in revenues of more than $550 million (£399m) in 2020 alone. In 2018, she launched the Savage x Fenty lingerie line, which she owns a 30% stake in; the brand was valued at $1 billion (£726m) in February 2021. Rihanna now has a net worth of $1.7 billion (£1.2bn), according to Forbes.

Find out more about how Rihanna makes and spends her money

"Mark Zuckerberg invest 1 billion dollars into Kanye West ideas", the rapper famously tweeted in 2016, shortly after revealing that he was $53 million (£38.5m) in debt. Happily, it seems that West's fortunes have since picked back up again, with Forbes estimating in spring 2020 that the rapper had a staggering net worth of $1.8 billion (£1.3bn). 

So how did he turn things around? The hip-hop artist turned entrepreneur has a lucrative multi-year contract with Adidas to design Yeezy-branded sneakers, which raked in an estimated $1.7 billion (£1.2bn) in 2020 alone. Despite his ongoing divorce from Kim Kardashian, West still owns a small stake in her shapewear brand Skims, with the company valued at $1.6 billion (£1.2bn). In terms of his musical career, West has sold more than 21 million albums and 100 million digital downloads worldwide. 

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