Six months have already gone by and 2017 has been a roller coaster ride with so many successful country music stars making bigger names in the industry. As the competition grows fiercer, it seems that neither the classic or modern country artists are just about to throw in the towel in the battle of whose songs drew in the most hits in the jackpot.
Without further ado, Forbes finally revealed its yearly ranking of the top-earning musicians for the Country genre. Widely recognized as “the magazine authority on all things involving finance and business”, Forbes assembled this year’s list by combining independent research on pretax income estimates from June 1 2016 to June 1 2017. The accumulated data was combined with a comparison of Nielsen’s record sales data and compiled Pollstar touring numbers.
The list revealed that its highest ranked performers raked majority of their earnings from concert sales.
1. Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks emerged as the artist who garnered the most income for his performances. He earned a whopping $60 million mostly from his record-breaking world tours. He also had a fully booked schedule from his back-to-back shows in multiple major cities. Making it to the top spot for highest grossing country singer is a testament that Brooks had surpassed fellow top-earner Dolly Parton, who holds the longest running career in the country industry.
2. Kenny Chesney
Chesney follows the list with $42.5 million cash drawn into his bank account. He was a real crowd pleaser in all of his tours and appearances. Aside from jam-packed performances left and right, the country singer appeared in commercial endorsements for Corona and Apple, to name a few.
3. Luke Bryan
At number three is Luke Bryan, who reportedly raked in $42 million for 2017. Unlike his fellow country singers who made it in the list, part of his gigantic income was traced back from his HFE clothing line, which was sold by Buck Commander, his co-owned company with Willie Robertson from Duck Dynasty, and Cabela’s.
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4. Dolly Parton
The lovely and bodacious Dolly was the only female country artist to make it in this year’s list. Thanks to her theme park, Pigeon Forge in Tennessee, the country legend was able to add in a total of $37 million to her earnings in the previous year.
5. Toby Keith and Florida Georgia Line
Tied at $34.5 million are Toby Keith and Florida Georgia Line. Forbes attributes the financial success of both artists after they have taken their music to the next level by incorporating the mainstream combination of country and pop.
6. Jason Aldean
Based on his tour records, Forbes estimated that the Aldean made over $1 million for every city where he performed and promoted his latest album, They Don’t Know. Currently standing on 6th place, Aldean was able to accumulate about $32.5 million this year.
7. Blake Shelton
While Shelton isn’t big on tours and album releases like his contenders, he owes his $31.5 million earning to his big role as one of the judges and mentors on the hit singing contest, The Voice.
Compared to 2016’s top grossing artists where only five made it to the $30 million mark, 2017 evened out the plane by letting money rain of a couple more artists.
Did your favorite artist make it to the list? Yes? No? Well, if they didn’t, they can always try harder next year.
