Kanye West may have been down on his luck in the past, but this year it looks like he has had a big financial comeback. Thursday, Forbes published the 2019 edition of its list of the highest-paid acts in hip-hop, and Kanye made history by claiming No. 1 on the list for the first time ever.
Kanye took the No. 1 spot over mentor Jay-Z and Drake who sit at two and three, respectively. Kanye’s Yeezy sneakers are a big part of his financial comeback and historic feat, yielding over $1.5 billion in sales in 2019. For context, that’s about half of what the iconic Nike Air Jordans pull in in a year, according to Forbes. Those sales helped Kanye rake in about $150 million of pretax income. It wasn’t long ago that Ye tweeted he was about $53 million dollars in debt while asking Mark Zuckerberg for money. Forbes reported that Ye was expected to make $150 in an interview with him in August.
In another historical accomplishment, Kanye ranking higher than Jay-Z on Forbes’ list is a first as well. Coming in at two on the list, Kanye’s pretax income nearly doubled Jay-Z’s, with the latter raking in $81 million of pretax income. Drake comes in just behind Jay-Z with $75 million of pretax income.
In addition to the history he made on Thursday, Ye is presumably dropping an album soon.
Check out Kanye discussing his Yeezy shoes in the clip above, and you can read his full Forbes interview here.
