Richest Rapper Dr Dre Earns 10 Times More Than Jay Z

Dr Dre has been named the top earning hip-hop star with estimated earnings in the past year of $620million (£378million).

The 49-year-old rapper and entrepreneur racked up most of his earnings from Apple’s $3billion buyout of his Beats Headphones line.

His vast pay cheque is the highest yearly earnings ever valued by Forbes Magazine.

It’s more than ten times the estimated $60million (£36.59million) earned by Jay Z and last year’s number one Diddy in joint second spot.

And incredibly it’s more than the rest of the combined income of the 24 other rappers on the annual rich list.

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The rest of the Top 10 is made up of Drake, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Kanye West, Birdman, Lil Wayne, Pharrell Williams and Eminem.

Forbes estimates the earnings from touring, record sales, publishing, merchandise sales, endorsements and other business ventures.

The richest hip-hop stars of the past year are as follows:

1. Dre Dre - $620million (£378m) 2. tie Diddy - $60million (£36.59m) 2. tie Jay Z - $60million (£36.59m) 4. Drake - $33million (£20.14m) 5. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - $32million (£19.53m) 6. Kanye West - $30million (£18.31m) 7. Birdman - $24million (£14.65m) 8. Lil Wayne - $23million (£14.04m) 9. Pharrell Williams - $22million (£13.42m) 10. Eminem – $18million (£10.98m) 11. Nicki Minaj - $14 million (£8.54m) 12. Wiz Khalifa - $13 million (£7.93m) 13. Pitbull - $12 million (£7.32m) 14. Snoop Dogg - $10 million (£6.1m) 15. Kendrick Lamar - $9 million (£5.49m) 16. tie Ludacris - $8 million (£4.88m) 16. tie Tech N9ne - $8 million (£4.88m) 16. tie Swizz Beatz - $8 million (£4.88m) 16. tie 50 Cent - $8 million (£4.88m) 20. tie Rick Ross - $7 million (£4.27m) 20. tie J. Cole - $7 million (£4.27m) 20. tie DJ Khaled - $7 million (£4.27m) 20. tie Lil Jon - $7 million (£4.27m) 20. tie Mac Miller - $7 million (£4.27m)