While 2020 was certainly a challenging year for everyone, Kylie Jenner and Kanye West found a way to capitalize (literally) more than any other celebrity.
Jenner, 23, and West, 43, who is married to her half-sister Kim Kardashian, topped Forbes’ annual list of highest-paid celebrities for the year 2020.
Jenner easily topped the list with a whopping $590 million earned last year, while West came in a distant second with $170 million.
The bulk of Jenner’s earnings of the year came from the sale of 51% of her Kylie Cosmetics company to the publicly-traded Coty.
She earned $600 million from the sale, with Forbes adding she pocketed $540 million pretax.
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While she was named as the youngest ‘self-made’ billionaire at just 21 years of age in March 2019, her company’s earnings were disputed and she lost her billionaire ‘status.’
Forbes estimated in November that her net worth is estimated around $700 million, though her sale to Coty is described as, ‘one of the biggest celebrity cashouts of all time.’
Her company Kylie Cosmetics had a 2019 revenue totalling $200 million, with a social media reach of a whopping 175 million people.
West’s earnings of $170 million have pushed his ‘real-time net worth’ to $1.3 billion, as of Tuesday.
West inked a high-profile deal with sneaker-maker Adidas, with ‘new information’ about the deal convincing Forbes to brand him a billionaire.
Adidas makes his Yeezy sneaker brand, with the company paying an ‘annual royalty’ to the rapper for his sneakers.
The Yeezy brand of sneakers earned a whopping $1.3 billion in sales, just in 2019 alone, with the rapper also owning his own Yeezy apparel line.
West is said to own all of his brands outright, and it was announced in June he signed a deal with Gap to sell his Yeezy clothing line.
The rest of the top 10 on the Forbes list is comprised largely of athletes, with five of the eight earning their riches primarily through sports salaries.
Tennis legend Roger Federer takes the third spot overall and the distinction as the highest-paid athlete with $106.3 million in earnings, largely from endorsement deals, including a 10-year $300 million deal with Japanese apparel brand Uniqlo.
Soccer sensation Cristiano Ronaldo took fourth place with $105 million, most of which comes from his $64 million annual salaries with Juventus.
Another star from the pitch, Lionel Messi, came in fifth with $104 million, earning $80 million a year from Barcelona along with other endorsement deals.
Filmmaker Tyler Perry took sixth place on the list with $97 million, most of which comes from his massive film library which, unlike many filmmakers, he owns 100%.
He also opened the 330-acre Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta last year and struck a deal with Viacom to own 25% of streaming service BET+.
Perry is followed by another soccer star Neymar in seventh place with $95.5 million, who has a five-year contract worth $350 million.
Shock jock Howard Stern comes in eighth place on the Forbes list with $90 million, though he could rise on next year’s list.
His Sirius XM contract expires at the end of this month, and since he retains the rights to his archives, he could have a massive payout coming.
NBA star LeBron James comes in ninth with $88.2 million, including his Los Angeles Lakers salary, numerous endorsements and his own film/TV production company.
The top 10 is rounded out by Dwayne Johnson, the world’s highest-paid actor who took in $87.5 million.
2020 Forbes Highest-Paid Celebrities Top 10
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