$75 million
The mega-successful John Legend has racked up quite a bit of money. That might be in part the result of the combined bank accounts with his former super-model wide, Chrissy Teigen, but make no mistake, John Legend has done pretty well in his own right. Legend had a less glamorous start as a management consultant before he began penning and performing romantic love songs.
In the year 2000, he self-released two albums, one self-titled and the second, ‘Live at Jimmy’s Uptown’ in 2001. It was meeting singer Kanye West however, that really changed the direction of his career completely. In fact, it was Kanye West who gave him his stage name! He signed to his label and immediately began churning out number one hits. Kanye called it, because he actually did end up as quite the legend.
$175 million
Janet Jackson is the youngest child in the Jackson family. She got her career started with the television series The Jacksons, in 1976. She went on to appear in other shows throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including T.V. hits such as Good Times and Fame. In 1982, she signed a record contract with A&M Records, and the rest was history. She soon became a world-renowned pop icon.
Her widely known collaborations with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, which incorporated rhythm and blues, disco, rap and funk, helped Janet’s crossover success in popular music. She has sold over 100 million records, which makes Jackson one of the world's best-selling music artists.
$250 million
Academy Award winner, Golden Globe Award winner, Emmy Award winner, Tony Award winner, and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Tim Rice is in a league of his own. Tim may be best known for his work with Andrew Lloyd Webber- together they wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Evita. He also gained much success for his collaborations with Alan Menken on Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.
Tim Rice is said to be one of the most influential lyricists in pop culture. In 1994, Rice was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to music. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and also is in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. He is one of just fifteen people to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award.
$500 million
Dolly Parton got her initial success by writing songs for other people. In 1967 she made her debut album, Hello, I'm Dolly. She gained a pretty steady stream of success throughout the 1960s. She continued on as a solo artist and released a couple of duet albums as well. However, her sales peaked in the 70s and continued well into the 80s. She released more albums in the 90s, but they did not do as well.
This didn't stop her, though, and she made a comeback in 2000’s and released multiple albums on Independent labels, including albums on her own label, Dolly Records. Over the span of her career, she has a record 41 top-10 country albums, and she has 110 charted singles over the past 40 years.
$400 Million
Canadian country pop singer-songwriter and 5-time Grammy Award winner, Shania Twain, has an estimated net worth of $350 million. She has achieved major success as singer and songwriter, winning 27 Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Songwriter awards. Twain credits the time she ѕреnt wоrkіng wіth hеr fаthеr’ѕ rеfоrеѕtаtіоn buѕіnеѕѕ for giving her the solitude she needed to spark her creativity. After a long day of physical labor, shе uѕеd tо sit in the woods with only her dog and guitar, and wrіtе ѕоngѕ.
In the mid-'90s with her hit album, The Woman in Me, Twain became the most popular country music artist since Garth Brooks. That record became a multi-platinum phenomenon, selling over 9 million copies in America alone. Selling a total of 100 million records globally, Twain's the best-selling female artist in country music history and also one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Many critics of the genre regard her as the "Queen of Country Pop". Fun fact: Twain is a long-time resident of Corseaux, Switzerland, and her only son was born there as well.