What determines the biggest bands and musicians in the world? Is it number of concert tickets sold, albums streamed, albums purchased, or other factors? For the most part, it’s the first three – along with publishing revenues – that determine what acts make the most money.
Billboard, who recently released an explanation of current musical trends that explained the methodology behind the biggest artists, have officially unveiled this year’s list of the top 50 highest-paid musicians, and most of it isn’t a total surprise. While there’s many legacy acts on this list in Metallica, Depeche Mode, and U2 (who finished at #1 with $54.4 million total), there’s also plenty of newcomers.
Of particular note is a few bands like Panic! At The Disco (#47, with $9.4 million total), Guns N’ Roses (whose Not in This Lifetime… Tour helped them to the #8 spot in the rankings), and Twenty One Pilots, who are in the #44 spot with $11 million in revenue, including 1.8 billion streams. The even more shocking thing is that you likely could have seen Panic! At The Disco and Twenty One Pilots play much smaller venues just a few years back, and both are at arena-level now.
For a full list of the rankings from Billboard, click here.
