Gaze upon your bank balance and weep, for business bible Forbes has just released its 2015 Electronic Cash Kings list of the world’s highest paid DJs, and it comes with more eight digit numbers than a phone book.
Hitmaker Calvin Harris has topped the 2015 list for the third year in the row with a gross estimated annual income of US$66 million, as calculated from “live shows, endorsements, merchandise sales, recorded music sales and external business ventures” (which puts him and Taylor Swift in the same tax bracket, according to Forbes’ 2014 list of the highest paid musicians).
Harris has been stacking paper ever since he shot from the depths in 2013 to the top of the highest paid list, bumping Tiësto’s measly take home of $32 million off the top spot with an estimated haul of $46 million (with which he could probably buy his old hometown of Dumfries). Elsewhere on the 2015 list of Highest Paid DJs you’ll find usual suspects like David Guetta, Tiësto, Skrillex, Afrojack and Kaskade, while Martin Garrix’s punishing tour schedule has paid off this year, netting him $17 million.
Conspicuously absent from this year’s list are the Swedish House Mafia alumni and Hardwell, although Forbes clarifies that there were a number of “near-misses” for the top slots including the three former Swedish House Mafia members, Armin van Buuren, Nervo, Hardwell, Krewella, Alesso and DJ Snake.
The common denominator between all 12 of the world’s highest paid dance artists? Those lucrative, high profile Las Vegas residencies…not to mention chart hits and festival headline slots. Check out the rankings below:
FORBES’ HIGHEST PAID DJS 2015
#9 Deadmau5 ($15 million) / Diplo ($15 million)
#8 Afrojack ($16 million)
#7 Martin Garrix ($17 million) / Zedd ($17 million)
#6 Kaskade ($18 million)
#5 Avicii ($19 million)
#4 Skrillex ($24 million) / Steve Aoki ($24 million)
#3 Tiësto ($36 million)
#2 David Guetta ($37 million)
#1 Calvin Harris ($66 million)