It’s lonely at the top, goes the old saying–and Diddy has given the proverb a modern slant. “The only one that’s topping Forbes, I’m gettin’ lonely,” he rapped on his 2014 track “Big Homie.”

The same holds true today: Diddy pulled in $62 million over the past year, earning the top spot on our Hip-Hop Cash Kings list for the second consecutive year; take out Dr. Dre’s Beats paydays, and Diddy would be celebrating his fifth cash crown in a row. Though he doesn’t earn much from music these days, he makes up for it with his outrageously lucrative Ciroc vodka deal and other non-musical ventures. Diddy can’t shake the stage entirely: his Bad Boy Reunion Tour runs through the fall.

Jay Z ranks second with earnings of $53.5 million. He didn’t play many shows or release a new album during the past 12 months, but continued to cash in on his Roc Nation entertainment company, Armand de Brignac champagne, D’Ussé cognac and other ventures. Dre rounds out the top three with a $41 million haul. It’s been two years since he scored the highest single-year payday in history for any living celebrity–$620 million, mostly from Apple's AAPL -2.23% $3 billion Beats buyout–but he continues to pocket cash from the deal and from biopic Straight Outta Compton.

Overall, it’s been a banner year for the business of hip-hop. The world’s 20 highest-paid acts pulled in more than $450 million over the past 12 months, the highest total since 2014 and third-highest in the Cash Kings list’s ten-year history. The only two years with a higher aggregate: 2008 and 2014, fueled by nine-figure windfalls for 50 Cent and Dre, respectively.

It’s lonely at the top, goes the old saying–and Diddy has given the proverb a modern slant. “The only one that’s topping Forbes, I’m gettin’ lonely,” he rapped on his 2014 track “Big Homie.”

The same holds true today: Diddy pulled in $62 million over the past year, earning the top spot on our Hip-Hop Cash Kings list for the second consecutive year; take out Dr. Dre’s Beats paydays, and Diddy would be celebrating his fifth cash crown in a row. Though he doesn’t earn much from music these days, he makes up for it with his outrageously lucrative Ciroc vodka deal and other non-musical ventures. Diddy can’t shake the stage entirely: his Bad Boy Reunion Tour runs through the fall.

Jay Z ranks second with earnings of $53.5 million. He didn’t play many shows or release a new album during the past 12 months, but continued to cash in on his Roc Nation entertainment company, Armand de Brignac champagne, D’Ussé cognac and other ventures. Dre rounds out the top three with a $41 million haul. It’s been two years since he scored the highest single-year payday in history for any living celebrity–$620 million, mostly from Apple's AAPL -2.23% $3 billion Beats buyout–but he continues to pocket cash from the deal and from biopic Straight Outta Compton.

Overall, it’s been a banner year for the business of hip-hop. The world’s 20 highest-paid acts pulled in more than $450 million over the past 12 months, the highest total since 2014 and third-highest in the Cash Kings list’s ten-year history. The only two years with a higher aggregate: 2008 and 2014, fueled by nine-figure windfalls for 50 Cent and Dre, respectively.

A new generation is challenging those veteran Cash Kings for financial supremacy, led by the likes of Drake and Wiz Khalifa. The former claims the No. 4 spot with earnings of $38.5 million–fueled by the best music sales of any musician not named Adele–thanks to new album Views. He padded his total with live shows and checks from Apple, Sprite and Nike; more may be on the way with his new Virginia Black whiskey. Khalifa tallied $24 million to earn the No. 5 rank, boosted by 70 shows and a healthy six-figure nightly average gross during our scoring period.

See the rest at http://www.bookspen.com/forbes-releases-2016-cash-kings-list/

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