Highest annual earnings for a musician ever

According to Forbes, hip-hop musician/producer Dr Dre (USA, b. Andre Young) raked in estimated pre-tax earnings of $620 million (£378 million) in the 12 months to June 2014. Despite not releasing an album of new material since 1999, the veteran rapper cashed in on the $3-billion (£1.8-billion) sale of Beats Electronics - the headphone-manufacturing company he founded with Jimmy Iovine - to Apple in May 2014, enabling him to dwarf the $125 million (then £76.2 million) earned by Michael Jackson in 1989. Forbes' 'Hip-Hop Cash Kings' list includes income from touring, record sales, publishing, merchandise and endorsements and is based on data from Pollstar, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Nielsen SoundScan. Fees for agents, managers and lawyers were not deducted from each act's income.

Dre's income for the year to June 2014 exceeded the total annual earnings ($427 million) of the other 23 musicians on Forbes' 'Hip-Hop Cash Kings 2014' list combined. Runners-up Jay Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs both made $60 million (£37 million) in the same period. Others on the list included Drake ($33 million), Kanye West ($30 million), Pharrell Williams ($22 million) and Eminem ($18 million).

Dre's earnings also included exclusive deals with cognac and vodka brands. His most recent studio album was 2001 (1999), and his last album of any description was a 2006 greatest hits compilation titled Chronicles: Death Row Classics. Work on a third studio album (working title Detox) was reported to have started back in 2001, although it is rumoured that the project has now been shelved.

Los Angeles-based Dr Dre, who has been touted as hip-hop's first billionaire ("...a nine-figure tax bill means that won't happen immediately..."), had earnings of "only" $40 million in the year to June 2013.