Metallica: Still Really Rich!

Metallica have celebrated their annual tradition of being really fucking rich with yet another ranking on Forbes‘ yearly list of the world’s highest-paid celebrities.

The latest list, which covers the year spanning June 1, 2019 through May 31, 2020 (we think), takes into account concert revenue, merchandise, film/sync rights and other sources of revenue, gleaned from tracking sites like Pollstar and IMDB combined with best estimates made by industry experts. Notably, these are gross figures to the band before payments to managers, agents, crew, etc. are taken out.

Metallica’s performance in the past year was good enough for a #78 ranking with gross income of $40.5 million. That’s a significant drop in both rank and dollars from last year, when they landed at #10 with gross estimated earnings of $68.5 million, likely due to less touring. In 2017 Metallica also landed at #10 with estimated gross earnings of $66.5 million, while in 2018 they brought in $46 million, good enough for a 25th place tie with Elton John.

Other notable rock acts to appear on this year’s Forbes list include Bon Jovi (#87, $38 million) and Kiss (#95, $36.5 million).

The Kardashian clan held both of the list’s two top spots: Kylie Jenner ranked at #1 with $590 million and Kanye West at #2 with $170 million.

You can check out the full list here.