After landing his first platinum-certified album, Pray 4 Love, rapper Rod Wave has now earned a spot on Billboard’s Money Makers list of the highest-paid music artists in the U.S in 2020, placing 25th.
Throughout the year, most artists hosted virtual performances due to COVID-19, which drastically diminished or elimnated touring revenue. However, the Florida native managed to close out last year with $7.37 million in earnings.
Rod Wave reportedly made $1.3 million from publishing and $66,400 in royalties, which came entirely from digital downloads. Yet he made his biggest earnings from streaming services, in the amount of $6 million. His music videos account for close to 20% of his 4.1 billion combined streaming plays.
Pray 4 Love debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart in April 2020, with singles such as “Girl of My Dreams” and “Rags2Riches” landing on the Hot 100.
Rod Wave is among the many hip-hop artists who dominated last year and earned a spot on Billboard’sranking of the highest-paid musicians of 2020, including Travis Scott, DaBaby, Kanye West, Roddy Ricch, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, and Lil Uzi Vert. Out of 40 artists, Taylor Swift returned to the number-one spot on the 2020 list, earning $23.8 million — which is $75.8 million less than what she made in 2018, the last time she appeared on the list.
“The Bigger Picture” rapper Lil Baby came in at number ten, earning $11.7 million behind heavyweights such as Drake, who earned $14.2 million, putting him in sixth place.
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