Classic Rock’s Biggest Acts Among 2020’s Top Paid Musicians
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - DECEMBER 14: (EDITOR'S NOTE: Editorial use only) Sir Paul McCartney performs on stage at The SSE Hydro on December 14, 2018 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns)
Quite A List
Billboard recently published The Top Paid Musicians of 2020, and it came as no surprise that some of the biggest classic rock acts made it to the list. The coronavirus pandemic temporarily shut down touring, and millions of revenue were lost. Even so, several legendary rockers made serious from streaming and publishing.
Eagles landed on the fourth spot with $16.3M. $11.4M came from touring as they played ten shows just before lockdown measures were implemented, $2.7M from streaming, $1.2M from publishing, and $970K from sales royalties.
Queen was at #7 with $13.2M – the biggest chunk of which came from streaming with $5.5M, $5.3M in sales royalties which mostly came from their limited-edition colored vinyl Studio Collection box set, and $2.4M in publishing. Keep in mind that although Queen members were fairly active online, they didn’t tour AT ALL in 2020.
Beatles took the eighth place with $12.9M. The Fab Four are still raking in serious cash especially after generating over 1.8 billion streams. They made $5.1M in streaming alone but get this, they sold 671,000 copies of their albums!
Others on the list include AC/DC at #13 with $10.1 million, Metallica at #18 with $9 million, Pink Floyd at #20 with $8.8 million, Fleetwood Mac at #29 with $6.6 million, Tool at #32 with $6.17 million, KISS at #33 with $6 million, Rolling Stones at #34 with $5.96 million, Billy Joel at #39 with $5.49 million, and Aerosmith at #40 with $5.35 million.
