Kendrick Lamar topped hip-hop earners in 2025 with $109M, outpacing Drake by $31M after their feud, legal fallout, and the runaway success of “Not Like Us.”
Kendrick Lamar secured his spot as Hip-Hop’s highest earner in 2025, pulling in $109 million to claim fourth place on Forbes’ annual list of top-paid musicians. The Compton rapper’s massive payday puts him miles ahead of longtime rival Drake, who ranked seventh with $78 million, according to Forbes.
The earnings gap between the two superstars tells a bigger story than just numbers. Kendrick’s financial dominance comes after a year in which he completely destroyed Drake in their public feud, culminating in the chart-topping diss track “Not Like Us.”
The song didn’t just win the culture war; it won the money game, too.
Drake’s $78 million still puts him among music’s elite earners, but the $31 million difference between him and Kendrick stings extra hard, especially after Drake’s embarrassing legal defeat in October 2025, when a federal judge tossed his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over “Not Like Us.”
The Canadian rapper had sued UMG in January 2025, claiming the label unfairly promoted Kendrick’s diss track that called him a pedophile. Drake argued the song damaged his reputation and put him in danger.
The judge disagreed, dismissing the case and leaving Drake with nothing but legal bills and a last-ditch appeal.
Kendrick’s $109 million haul came despite not releasing any solo music in 2025. His earnings come from streaming royalties and the massive international success of his “Grand National Tour,” which raked in over $350 million.
The Forbes list shows The Weeknd at number one with $298 million, followed by Taylor Swift at $202 million and Beyoncé at $148 million. Kendrick’s fourth-place finish makes him the highest-earning rapper on the entire list, a title that probably tastes even sweeter knowing he beat Drake to get it.
Drake closed 2025 as Spotify’s most-streamed artist globally, but streaming numbers don’t always translate to the biggest paychecks. Kendrick proved that winning the culture war can be just as profitable as winning the streaming war.
The earnings reveal caps off a brutal year for Drake, who went from rap’s golden boy to public enemy number one after Kendrick’s lyrical assault. Between the diss tracks, the failed lawsuit, and a RICO case tied to Stake over streaming fraud, 2025 will go down as the year Kendrick Lamar completely owned Drake.
Related