Forget the bragging bank accounts and bling of the rap game and the multi-million-dollar spinning EDM industry, the biggest earners of the music world are strumming acoustic guitars and rocking cowboy boots.
That’s according to a new list of the highest paid Country music acts by financial bible Forbes (via Statista), which demonstrates that stetson-wearing, twang-toting musicians are earning exorbitant amounts of cash – outstripping the lucrative figures earned by the highest paid figures in hip-hop and electronic music by a country mile (no pun intended).
It’s not just in their fortunes either, Country acts also beating out top-selling mainstream pop acts on the charts, with three of the the 10 best-selling albums of 2013 in the US being from Country acts (Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, and Florida Georgia Line) while Nashville-bred musicians regularly crop up alongside road-dogs like The Stones, Springsteen, and U2 on top-grossing tours rankings.
Topping the list of 2014’s Top 10 highest-earning Country acts is Nashville superstar Toby Keith, with a staggering fortune of $65 million – putting him $15 million above top-earning rap mogul P. Diddy and well above EDM millionaire Calvin Harris. Keith’s fortunes are bolstered by a variety of entrepreneurial endeavours – such as his restaurant chain and branded mescal liqour, a Ford endorsement deal, and cash from his Show Dog record label.
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The second highest paid Country star of 2014 is the 24-year-old queen of crossover, Taylor Swift, who’s just $1 million shy of Toby Keith; her $64 million boosted by “heavy touring and endorsements for Diet Coke, Keds and CoverGirl” and making her the highest earning musician of last year.
Behind Swift – on both 2013 and 2014 rankings – is genre mainstay Kenny Chesney, coming third with a hefty fortune of $44 million, even though he played only 29 shows in the period from which Forbes took its figures. Australia-born, US-based Keith Urban also makes the cut, at #7 with $28 million to his name.
Anyone outside of the US may struggle to recognise the remainder of these Country Stars (let alone distinguish between them) they’re blindingly popular in their native nations. You might not have heard of Luke Bryan (at #5 with $35 million) but he was America’s “best-selling artist of 2013 behind only Justin Timberlake”, while Florida Georgia Line (#10 with $24 million) had more downloads of their hit ‘Cruise’ than Lorde’s career-making ‘Royals’.
You can view The Top 10 Highest Paid Country Musicians Of 2014 list by Forbes in full here, or take a gander at Statista’s handy chart summary below while you consider ditching your day job for a new start in the guitar-twanging business.
