Understanding Kanye West’s Super-Complicated Net Worth

From Cosmopolitan

Kanye West once mused, “They say the best things in life are free,” but honestly, who cares because dude has more money than he knows what to do with. Not only has he made a fortune from his successful music career, but his fashion line Yeezy is insanely profitable AND he married into America’s unofficial royal family too. Who knows the details of their prenup, but Kim Kardashian was certainly sitting on her own pile o’ cash before she and Kanye got hitched. All that said, Kanye’s net worth is actually a pretty complicated saga filled with financial ups and downs, so let’s get right into it, shall we? WE SHALL!

Kanye’s Music Has (Obviously) Made Tons of $$$

According to The Recording Industry Association of America, Kanye has made $76.5 million in digital singles. He’s one of the tippy-top-earning musicians in this category, coming in at number seven with Drake, Katy Perry, Eminem, Taylor Swift, and Rihanna beating him out. He’s also sold $14.5 million in albums, which might not sound like a ton of money considering the fact that he’s released nine studio albums, two collaborative studio albums, one compilation album, two live albums, one video album, and four mixtapes. But! More people tend to throw down for singles rather than entire albums, so it actually makes sense. And speaking of singles, let’s take a beat to listen to “Good Life” together.

Meanwhile, Kanye’s also made money by producing for other artists and starting his own record label, G.O.O.D. Music. (Btw, he was involved in Jay-Z’s Tidal but left the company back in 2017 amid claims that the company owed him money.)

All told, Forbes reports that Kanye’s label, music, and publishing rights are worth $90 million. Wowowowow.

Yeezy Is His Biggest Monkeymaker

Kanye has always claimed that his collaboration with Adidas is insane levels of profitable, and he seems especially proud of his sneaker sales:

So humble! Oh, and Kanye also claimed that Yeezy would hit a billion dollars in 2018:

Turns out he was right-ish: Forbes recently revealed that Yeezy’s 2019 revenue was $1.3 billion. Kanye gets an 11 percent cut, which means he got royalties of more than $140 million last year. Let. That. Sink. In.

Let’s Talk His Real Estate Holdings

Kanye and Kim own several homes together and appear to enjoy flipping them. Back in 2017, the pair sold their Bel-Air mansion for a truly massive profit, flipping it for $17.8 million after originally purchasing it for $9 million. Per TMZ, “The sale stands as the most expensive sale ever in the exclusive Bel-Air Crest community.”

Meanwhile, Kim and Kanye’s Hidden Hills home was purchased for $20 million and is now worth a casual $60 million—at least, according to Kris Jenner.

All in all, Forbes reports that Kanye has $81 million tied up in “buildings and improvements” and $21 million in land.

But, uh, Apparently Kanye’s Also in Debt? Or at Least He Was?

Back in 2016, Kanye asked Mark Zuckerberg for $1 billion while also revealing that he’s $53 million in personal debt. “I write this to you my brothers while still 53 million dollars in personal debt,” he wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “Please pray we overcome…this is my true heart…my dreams brought me into debt and I’m close to seeing the light of day.”

So, What’s Kanye’s Total Net Worth?

The final number, according to Forbes, is $1.3 billion—and that’s mostly based on his stake in Yeezy. Keep in mind that the majority of Kanye’s money is tied up (see: his houses and land), but he has $17 million in cash and $35 million in stocks to draw from if he needs it.

Cool. Same. It’s fine. We’re fine.

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