MUMBAI: Veteran hip-hop artist Dr Dre topped Forbes' list of the 25 highest-paid musicians in 2012, released on Thursday. But with no album released from his side for over a decade raises eyebrows on his huge income.
Dre reportedly collected $110 million from May 2011 to May 2012, beating Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Paul McCartney.
Most of the income is expected to come from his popular headphone line, Dre Beats. Dre earned $100 million when HTC, a Taiwanese manufacturer of smartphones and tablets, purchased a 51% stake in the company last year, according to Forbes. The company later sold half of its share back to Beats, and they have exclusive rights to use Beats Audio technology in its mobile devices. Andre had received this $100 million in pretax.
California native Dre has worked with artist like Eminem and Snoop Dogg.
The list's top 10 was dominated by veteran musicians, with Pink Floyd's bassist and singer Roger Waters coming in at No 2 with earnings of $88 million from his lucrative The Wall Live tour, and British singer Elton John at No 3 with $80 million.