Does anyone know who has made the most $$ as a performing musician? I'm curious. Thanks for any input.

My guess would be Elvis, Michael Jackson or the Beatles.....

Macca

For a long time it was Paul McCartney. I think Mike was poised to take over but he'd still owe it to Paul.

NDRU said:

Mike would be living on the street if not for the Beatles publishing. He still lives like he just put out Thriller.

And Paul is the correct answer.
[Edited 4/14/06 16:57pm]

Technically MJ I'd guess, but if Paul buys back the $1 billion Beatles' catalog, it'll be him far and away.

u2prnce said:

U can't be serious?

lilgish said:

Couldn't be more serious--or do you not keep up on the news?

It's still Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson is next. Mike could've been
a billionaire if he didn't go through money like toilet paper.

Graycap23 said:

This is a loaded queston:

Elvis was bilked out of who knows how much money by Colonel Tom Parker. Michael Jackson has gone through several fortunes. And most of the Beatles money came after they were broken up....

If you're asking, who is actually financially solvent and stable, my guesses would be:

#1Beatles(Ono, Harrisson, Macca, Ringo)
#2Presley's Estate
#3Michael (although I'm sure he spends more $$ than anyone else)

jasco82 said:

This is literally true. The Beatles song publishing value is estimated at 1 billion. If you added MJ's publishing and other publishing that he owns, he'd have a ridiculous amount of money. If, if, if...

u2prnce said:

Living on the street , I think not.

lilgish said:

based on news reports his ass is BROKE !!!!!

I am wrong edit
[Edited 4/14/06 19:20pm]

prettymansson said:

even if he was broke, which he's not, him and his kids would still have a nice home to live in.

Elvis

The Beatles made dough, but they divided into 4 estates.

CinisterCee said:

I googled richest musician and found this


Paul McCartney:
Most succesful popular music composer of all time
Paul is honoured by The Guinness Book Of Records with a unique rhodium disc to mark his official standing as the most successful popular music composer of all time. Wings tour the UK, climaxing with a massive 'Rockestra' all-star collection of musicians in London in aid of UNICEF and Kampuchean refugees.

Composer of the Millenium
Paul is voted "The Composer of the Millennium" in a poll conducted by the BBC, getting more votes than Mozart, Bach and Beethoven and beating contemporaries including Frank Zappa, Prince, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan. 1999

Largest Concert Audience For A Rock Artist
The largest paying audience ever attracted by a solo performer was an estimated 180,000–184,000, in the Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at a Paul McCartney concert held on April 21, 1990.

Most no. 1 hits ever by an artist
Paul McCartney is credited as the writer on a total of 32 number one hits in the US and 28 in the UK (Co-Written). More than any other artist; even Elvis Presley.

Best selling single in the world on grammophone.
Mull of kintyre (1977) became the best selling single ever on grammophone. Paul won an Ivor Novello award for the achievement.

Richest Musician in the world
Paul is the richest musician in the world with 800 million pounds. He became the richest in 1993, and has ever since became more and more rich. Last year (2004) he reached 800 million pounds.

Most Successful Songwriting Duo
The most successful songwriters in terms of number one singles are John Lennon (1940-80) and Paul McCartney (born June 18, 1942). They co-wrote 23 US No 1 singles. McCartney is credited as the writer on a total of 32 number one hits in the US to Lennon's 26, whereas Lennon authored 29 UK number ones to McCartney's 28 (25 co-written).

Most Recorded Song
The most recorded song is "Yesterday" written by Paul McCartney. From 1965 to January 1, 1986 some 1,600 versions of the song were made. The song was first recorded in June 1965 and released that August on the Help! album. It has been covered by artists such Elvis Presley, Boyz II Men, Frank Sinatra, James Brown, and Gladys Knight. The song reportedly came to McCartney in a dream. He woke up, went to the piano, turned on the tape recorder, and played the song. He then spent the next few weeks trying to figure out whether he'd heard the song before or just made it up in his sleep!

Most played song on Radio (8 million times)
Officially announces that Yesterday has passed its eight millionth USA airplay, making it the most-played song on radio.

Best selling musician in the 70´s
Paul McCartney is the best selling artist in the 70´s over the whole world. The runner-up is Elton John and then Bee Gees.

Best selling the musician in the 60´s
Paul McCartney and the Beatles are the best selling artists in the 60´s. The runner-up is Elvis Presley and then Cliff Richard.

Biggest All-Times Sales For A Band
The Beatles have amassed the greatest sales for any group. All-time sales have been estimated by EMI at over one billion discs and tapes to date. In 2001, they had been certified for album sales of 163.5 million in the US alone. The band has numerous other world records, including that for most recorded song - Lennon and McCartney's "Yesterday" had 1,600 versions recorded between 1965 and January 1, 1986. Also, their album titled 1, released on November 13, 2000, sold 13.5 million copies around the world in its first month, making it the fastest-selling album.

The best band ever
Representing The Beatles, Paul attends the New Musical Express 'Brat' awards to receive the NME readers' award for The Beatles as "The Best Band - Ever".

Most No.1 Singles On US Chart
The Beatles have enjoyed the most number one hits on the US singles chart. The group notched up 20 number one hits between 1964 and 1970

Most US Chart No. 1 Albums By A Group
The most No. 1 albums in the US chart by a group is 19, by The Beatles. Their chart-topping tally is more than double the number of those held by Elvis Presley and The Rolling Stones, with nine. Their latest chart-topping album was aptly entitled 1 and was released in 2001.

Most Platinum RIAA Certificates For A Group
The group with the most platinum certificates is The Beatles, with 33. The band also holds the record for the most multiplatinum albums, with 13.

Most weeks spend in the UK charts ever
Paul McCartney has spend 93 weeks at the top of the UK charts (Including the Beatles). The runner-up is Elvis Presley with 80 weeks.

Fastest selling tickets
During the tour, Paul - who already holds the world record for the biggest stadium crowd in history (184,000), set in Rio in 1990 - notches up a couple more: in Sydney, 20,000 tickets for two arena shows sell out in eight minutes
[Edited 4/14/06 21:10pm]

andykeen said:

Can he be considered as a musician??

mynameisnotsusan said:

.

Who? This must be just for the UK. I've read that name in Q, but I can't name a single song by him. Surprised that the Stones aren't #3 for the 60s.

Paul McCartney in NO joke. Wow. I did not know this. Thanks for the input and information.

mj aint broke...he is assett rick and cash poor..its silly how the media keeps treating his accounting/ledger mismanagement like he is going bankrupt..

like i've said in the past, if the man was going to be foreclosed by law his mortgagor would be required to publish a notice...and since nobody has ever showed a copy of a foreclosure notice (a smokinggun.com wetdream) then the man has never been at risk of loosing his home...

all that other stuff about him shuffling his assetts is a common occurance for the wealthy..its silly and stupid that the media waste its time on crap like this...dont they have Bush administration lies they should be investigating?

How much is 800 million pounds in US money?

funkpill said:

Yeah, when and tastes like cake!

Scorpion said:

800,000,000.00 GBP
United Kingdom Pounds = 1,401,996,091.94 USD
United States Dollars
1 GBP = 1.75250 USD 1 USD = 0.570615 GBP

Nevermind, I had it right the first time. I'm moving to Europe, edit!
[Edited 4/15/06 7:06am]

Elvis & John Lennon have a lot of money now, but when they died they had probably less than 20 million each--still a lot, but nothing compared to their current estates.

Apparently by year 2001 it was actually David Bowie. I ahve no idea why, could have been because of the Bowie-bonds.

Definetley Sir Paul, he owns the copyrights to Northern Songs with MJ and he still makes it. Jacko was close, but he lost it.
Also way up there are the Rolling Stones in particular Mick and Keef, as they are also the Glimmer Twins they are both billionaires and make serious ice whenever a Stones track is played on radio or in any form of endorsement. The fact too that The Rolling Stones are still a going concern too helps matters. Now they are in Auckland.

mynameisnotsusan said:

Hey thanks for confirming this.

NDRU said:

I believe Elvis had less than 5 million when he died. As u2prnce said, he was perpetually bilked by Parker and also by RCA. After Elvis died the probate court said they'd committed collusion, conspiracy to defraud, negligence, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, and improper managerial activities, and ordered the estate to immediately cease all payments to Parker and sue him, and sue RCA as his accomplice. If it wasn't for the probate court there wouldn't be an estate today.

Eileen

I would have said Paul McCartney if the question was "richest musician ALIVE"... but I truly had thought Elvis' post humous estate was grossing more than a 1/4 of the Beatles. But then again Paul (unlike John RIP) has had the chance to increase his income through touring.