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Dr. Dre Highest-Paid Musician: Producer Tops Forbes List

Posted Nov 30th 2012 10:25AM by Caitlin White
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Dr. Dre Highest Paid Musician Beats By Dre Producer Kendrick Lamar Simon Burchell, Getty Images

Rap mogul Dr. Dre has officially been named the highest-paid musician in the world according to Forbes.

Rounding out their top ten list are major pop stars like Britney Spears, Justin Bieber and Rihanna, but the hip-hop producer and entrepreneur garnered the top spot with a whopping $110 million.

Due to both his large roster of production credits, like on the breakout album of Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar's good kid m.A.A.d. city, and his infamous Beats by Dre headphone line, the "Forgot About Dre" rapper is over $30 million dollars ahead of the second highest-paid musician, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd.

Forbes reports that when they began their scoring period, Dre had sold 51% of the shares in his company to HTC for $300 million -- of which he collected $100 million pre-tax. That certainly set him over the edge for the 2012 fiscal year. However, he and his partners have since bought half of the sold shares back.

Rihanna was at the No. 12 spot on the list with $53 million, and Beyonce and Jay-Z both landed spots, although Bey beat out her husband by coming in at No. 18 and making $40 million. Jay was two spots behind his wife with a "mere" $38 million. Apparently headphones are the key to commerce in 2012, considering Dre made over three times what other stars earned.

Watch Dr. Dre's "Forgot About Dre" Video