It's not real until we see the numbers! Most of us literally cannot even fathom the obscene amounts of money the highest-paid celebrities rake in each year. The richest celebrities in the 21st century are making so much more money than most people could make in multiple lifetimes. Heck, there are even many other celebrities themselves who couldn't ever dream of making as much money as the celebs in the upper echelon! We may look at all celebs as "rich people," but there are definitely degrees of wealth.
It's hard to wrap our heads around it. Sometimes, we don't even want to know how much some celebrities earn, but curiosity always gets the best of us, and we're guessing you're pretty curious too. We're specifically sharing who the highest-paid entertainers are, according to Forbes' first list of 2022.
Once you see these numbers, we guarantee you're going to be just as bowled over as we were. The dollar amounts are astronomical, and although we could have guessed who at least a few of the best-paid entertainers in the world would be, some of these names actually took us by surprise. Perhaps that's because we often fail to think of people who made their most significant impacts on the entertainment industry years — if not decades — ago, but yeah, older stars are raking it in.
Keep in mind that most, if not all, of these numbers are based on 2021 earnings. From rockers and rappers to movie stars and filmmakers, check out this list of the highest-paid entertainers.
1. Peter Jackson
Yup, the Lord of the Rings guy. In November 2021, director Peter Jackson sold a portion of his visual effects firm for a whopping $1.6 billion. He didn't pocket all of that dough, but his income for the year ended up at $580 million and helped him officially reach billionaire status.
2. Bruce Springsteen
It comes as no surprise that New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen has loads of money, but considering he didn't even release a new album in 2021, he sure managed to earn a lot of it. In December 2021, he sold all of his music to his label, Sony Music Group, for around $500 million. His personal earnings for the year ended up being $435 million.
3. Jay-Z
Rapper Jay-Z reached billionaire status quite a while ago, and in the fall of 2021, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He is hugely successful as both a musician and a businessman, and his latest earnings definitely reflect that. In 2021, he made another $340 million, thanks in large part to the sale of stakes in his music streaming service Tidal and the champagne brand Armand de Brignac.
4. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Dwayne Johnson nabbed the title of highest-paid actor in 2021, but acting is not actually how he made most of his money. He earned $270 million in 2021, mostly due to the success of his tequila brand, Teremana, which he launched in the spring of 2020. It has become hugely popular.
5. Kanye West
All controversy aside, Kanye West knows how to make money. He's seriously good at it, even if his marketing methods are a little questionable. He is hip hop's second legit billionaire, which is a status he earned thanks to his Yeezy sneaker line for Adidas and the Yeezy collaboration he did with Gap. In 2021, he added $235 million to his fortune.
6. Trey Parker & Matt Stone
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the TV power duo responsible for South Park, usually rake in about $80 million per year, but a six-year deal with Paramount+ — worth a staggering $900 million — brought their 2021 income up to $210 million. Sounds like an offer they couldn't refuse!
7. Paul Simon
We never would have guessed that musician Paul Simon would still be making the big bucks in his 80s, but thanks to a deal he made with Sony Music Publishing, selling hundreds of song compositions, he made $200 million in 2021 alone. Still, the deal was only for half of what "The Boss" got.
8. Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry is not messing around! The prolific filmmaker made $165 million in 2021, thanks to a multiyear deal with BET and income from his production company, Tyler Perry Studios, which he founded in 2006 and has contributed hugely to his billionaire status.
9. Ryan Tedder
This one threw us for a loop! OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder is of course a very successful musician, but we had no idea he had this kind of money. To be among the top 10 highest-paid entertainers is huge. It's only February, but he's already racked up $160 million in 2022, thanks to a deal he inked in January selling the rights to numerous songs he's written for his band and other artists (including Beyoncé and Adele).
10. Bob Dylan
Singer-songwriter and Nobel laureate Bob Dylan has made a huge impact on music throughout his career, and he's evidently been paid handsomely for it. In July 2021, he sold his recorded music — including some future recordings — to Sony Music Publishing for $150 million and ended up bringing in $130 million for the year.
11. Red Hot Chili Peppers
California rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers still tours and even still puts out new music for its devoted fan base, but it doesn't make a ton of money from that these days. The band did, however, net a cool $116 million when it sold its music catalog to a London investment firm in May 2021.
12. Reese Witherspoon
Finally — a woman! It's kind of insane that we've made it all the way to No. 12 and we're just now seeing a woman on this list. Between her work on The Morning Show and what she earned from the August 2021 sale of her production company, Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon made a hefty $115 million last year.
13. Chuck Lorre
TV guys really did well in 2021. Chuck Lorre, a director and producer best known for the sitcoms Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, still makes good money off of several now-syndicated shows, four current series (including United States of Al), and an upcoming Netflix series. Thanks to all of that, he made $100 million in 2021.
14. Sean "Diddy" Combs
It's still "All About the Benjamins" for Diddy. He made $90 million in 2021, largely from his liquor brand, Ciroc, but also thanks to earnings from Bad Boy Records and his Sean John clothing line, which he bought back in December 2021 after selling it in 2016.
15. Dick Wolf
Although TV legend Dick Wolf may only truly be a celebrity to Law & Order fanatics (there are a lot of them), he's raking in the big bucks alongside the best of them. He made $86 million last year, thanks to the long-running series and all of its spin-offs, as well as the syndication of shows like Law & Order: SVU.
16. Howard Stern
As much as they're paying him, Howard Stern probably won't ever retire. Thanks to a five-year deal he signed with SiriusXM, he made $85 million in 2021. That is seriously so much money for a year's worth of work, doing something that probably doesn't even take much effort anymore.
17. Shonda Rhimes
OK, so technically, the showrunners for the series Friends made more money than Shonda Rhimes last year, but they aren't really celebrities, so we're not going to include them here. Thanks to the money she still makes from Grey's Anatomy and her Netflix deal (which gave us the gift of Bridgerton), Shonda raked in an impressive $81 million in 2021.
18. Neil Young
Musician Neil Young got into a bit of controversy when he had his music removed from Spotify early in 2021 because he didn't approve of things being said on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. (The music is back on Spotify now.) But based on the looks of his bank account, Neil has enough clout in the industry to do such things. He sold his music catalog early in 2021, which meant earnings of $80 million for the "Heart of Gold" singer.
19. Lindsey Buckingham
Again, we'll mention that Riverdale showrunner Greg Berlanti made more than Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham in 2021, but he's not technically a celeb. So Lindsey is No. 19 on our list, with earnings of $72 million, thanks to the sale of his entire publishing catalog early in 2021.
20. Mötley Crüe
Rock band Mötley Crüe made out big time in a deal with BMG. It got $72 million for the rights to the songs on its nine studio albums. Drummer Tommy Lee also likely made something from selling the rights to his story for the Hulu series Pam and Tommy, which premiered early in 2022, but that may have happened some time ago.
21. The Beach Boys
Like we said, older entertainers killed it in 2021. The Beach Boys haven't had a hit in years, but evidently that doesn't mean they can't still make the big bucks. In February 2021, the band sold a "controlling stake in its intellectual property" to music executive Irving Azoff, netting them $64 million.
