No, the sort-of-musician turned business mogul is in the news for making lots and lots of money, then presumably using a small amount of it to hire two people to move his legs for him when he walks. Forbes reports Diddy tops this year’s list of the highest-earning musicians in the world, despite not releasing an album this year—actually, despite not having a solo album since 2006. (His “comeback” album, No Way Out 2, is due to be released sometime soon, and his first mixtape MMM came out in 2015.) He earned $130 million goddamn dollars this year, which is a career best, meaning it’s even more than he pulled in that year he fought Godzilla and won through sheer force of the verses he was spitting.
That chart-topping amount came from a combination of sources, including his Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour, the Ciroc Vodka deal that includes those weird ads, and the sale of one-third of his Sean John clothing line, which was by far the largest part of his income, netting Diddy an estimated $70 million. This proud man has come a long way from those terrible days of the great recession, when the once-mighty Diddy was briefly forced to fly first class instead of on a private jet, like some sort of crippled peasant child.
Coming in second is Beyoncé with a not-inconsiderable $105 million, the only other artist to crack nine figures, largely from her Formation World Tour. Drake takes the third-place spot with $94 million, which is the income level at which you may as well just start to look for a two-bedroom to share with a roommate. The Weeknd is fourth ($92 million—hey, maybe he could be Drake’s roommate!) and Coldplay ($88 million, but divided four ways, so they might as well be working at Jack In The Box). Hopefully this is just a prelude to next year, when the top earner will be the person who came up with the “We Are Farmers, bum bum da bum bum bum bum bum” jingle.
