11 Highest Paid Singers and Musicians of All Time

We all know that musicians are earning a lot of money, but who are the 11 Highest Paid Singers and Musicians of All Time? The answer to this question may or may not surprise you.

Music has always been a lucrative business. Tastes have changed throughout history, but one thing stayed the same. Musicians who are playing popular music and are good at it earn millions of dollars. In some glorious past the music of choice was rock ‘n’ roll, and along with the sex and drugs, money was flowing in streams. Just look at the Richest Bands of All Time. The same thing is happening now with DJs and pop singers. They are currently the hottest thing out there, and they have the money going to their way.

Of course, money doesn’t just come from the music itself. Some of the musicians found their business side and invested hard-earned money, making an extra profit. Other wasted large amounts of money just for fun, ending up broke.

In 11 Highest Paid Singers and Musicians of All Time we will take into consideration music and only music. It is hard to determine how much each artist got from their album sales since you can see the sold units only and you can’t really know the deal a musician has with the record label. He may get 5% from the sales or 65%. We decided to go in the other direction. We found which tours grossed the largest amount of money in the history of music, and split the total amount with the number of shows played on the tour. Doing that we managed to see how much money was earned per single show. Our source was List of the highest grossing concert tours. The list for the tour was obtained from Billboard and Pollstar with sales information from promoters and managers who organized the tours. So let’s get started.

11. Roger Waters

To show that he isn’t just another brick in the wall, Roger Waters embarked on a tour that lasted from 2010 to 2013 and was named The Wall Live. He grossed a total of $458,673,798 for 219 gigs.

Payment per show: $2.09 million

10. Celine Dion

Canadian lady Celine Dion has proved that Titanic is still popular when she bagged a hefty $279,200,000 for her 132 shows between 2008 and 2009.

Payment per show: $2.1 million

9. Pink Floyd

The Division Bell Tour, the first one without Roger Waters, still proved to be successful. Pink Floyd played 120 shows in 1994 and they earned $250,000,000.

Payment per show: $2.3 million

8. The Police

Reunions are always lucrative so The Police decided to play on the nostalgia card and get together for 156 shows in 2007 and 2008. Their effort was well paid, since they earned $362,000,000 and then retired again.

Payment per show: $2.3 million

7. Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band organized the Magic Tour and magic really happened. On 100 shows in 2 years they grossed $235,000,000. Good work Bruce.

Payment per show: $2.4 million

6. AC/DC

Rock legends AC/DC from Australia dusted off their guitars and set the sail on a three year tour from 2008 to 2010. The tour was named Black Ice World Tour and increased their piggy bank $441,121,000.

Payment per show: $2.6 million

5. Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi’s last tour was their most lucrative one. The Because We Can Tour in 2013 earned them $259,500,000 for 97 shows and earned them a place on 11 Highest Paid Singers and Musicians of All Time.

Payment per show: $2.67 million

4. The Rolling Stones

One of the biggest rock bands of all time is still going strong and touring like it’s their last one — given the amount of drugs they took, every show could be their last one. The A Bigger Bang Tour launched in 2007 and netted them $558,255,524 for 144 appearances all over the world.

Payment per show: $3.8 million

3. One Direction

Boy bands are back and they are going stronger than ever. All the screaming girls helped One Direction to gross $290,178,452 on their Where We Are Tour. For as little as 72 shows they earned a quite amount of money.

Payment per show: $4.2 million

2. Madonna

Another lady on our list, Madonna proved that Sticky & Sweet will go far and earn you a lot of money. She played just 85 shows over the course of 2 years and still managed to earn $408,000,000 for them.

Payment per show: $4.79 million

1. U2

Rock ‘n’ roll moneymaking machine would be more proper name for them if you ask us. On every tour, U2 likes to do it big and earn big. In 2009 U2’s 360° Tour officially started. Three years and 110 shows later, their bank account was $736,421,584 larger. Congratulations to U2 for leading the Highest Paid Singers and Musicians of All Time. Now Bono will have plenty of money to finance his philanthropic endeavors.

Payment per show: $6.7 million