What is Drake’s net worth?
Drake is a rapper, actor, and producer with a $250 million fortune who was born in Canada. Drake is among the most paid musicians in the world on a constant basis. Drake made his screen debut in the popular Canadian series “Degrassi: The Next Generation” early in his acting career. But it was music that would establish him as a global superstar; since 2006, he has been penning or producing hit song after hit song. 2010 saw the #1 debut entry of his debut studio album, “Thank Me Later,” on the hip-hop charts, and he hasn’t stopped since. He has relentlessly traveled, made appearances at several music events and award ceremonies, and generally concentrated on expanding his fan base as much as he could.
Drake’s career earnings, before taxes and living expenses, have exceeded $430 million since he first became well-known.
From June 2017 to June 2018, Drake made $45 million in revenue. He made a total of $95 million in 2017. He made $75 million from June 2018 to June 2019. Over the next twelve months, he made $50 million . For a detailed breakdown of Drake’s yearly earnings by year, scroll below.
Universal Music Group Contract
In May 2022, Universal Music Group said during the Q1 results call that Drake had inked a new contract with them that would be a “long-term worldwide partnership.” Everything was covered by the agreement, including “recorded music for music publishing, film, television, and brands.” Drake has made a few lyrical references to this contract. He rapped in one song about taking a contract that required paying “360 up front.” Given Universal’s confirmation, some have interpreted that line to indicate he was paid $360 million up front for the agreement. The transaction is reportedly worth at least $400 million, according to other reports. Drake’s music collection alone had been bringing in $50 million a year for the corporation in the years before the agreement.
Early Life
Aubrey Drake Graham was born on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Canada. Drake’s father, Dennis, worked as a drummer who played with musicians like Jerry Lee Lewis during his career. Drake’s mother, Sandra, aka Sandi, worked as an English teacher and florist. Drake attended a Jewish day school and had a formal Bar Mitzvah celebration. Sandi and Dennis divorced when Aubrey was five. His father subsequently moved to Memphis, where he ultimately ended up being arrested and incarcerated for several years on drug charges. Even though Aubrey’s father was not incarcerated, he would spend every summer visiting him in Memphis. Aubrey continued to live with his mother in Toronto. Drake would later claim that Dennis was absent from his early years; Dennis has angrily refuted this claim and says it was made up to promote the song.
Drake and his mother resided on the lower level of a two-story townhouse in the Forest Hill upscale area starting in the sixth grade. Drake resided in the basement, while his mother occupied the floor closest to the street. They were not wealthy; in fact, they had very little money. Drake discovered his passion for singing and acting while he was a student at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute. Afterwards, he went to Vaughan Road Academy, where he experienced bullying because of his mixed-race and religious upbringing. After a period of abandonment, he eventually graduated in 2012.
Degrassi
Drake got his first break in acting at the age of fifteen thanks to the acting agent father of a childhood friend who helped him get a part in the popular Canadian adolescent drama series “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” He portrayed basketball player Jimmy Brooks in the program, who was shot by a classmate and later became crippled. He made guest appearances in 2008 in addition to being a cast member for seasons 1 through 7.
It was during Drake’s Degrassi appearance that his mother fell ill and was unable to work. For a number of years, their only source of money was his Degrassi payment. He was being paid $50,000 a year at the time for the program. That comes out to almost $2000 a month after taxes. Later on, he would say the following about this period of time:
“My mother was very sick. We were very poor, like broke. The only money I had coming in was off of Canadian TV.“
Music Career
In 2006, Aubrey—then going by his stage name “Drake“—started putting out mixtapes, inspired by rap icons like Jay-Z, who secured record deals after finding success as independent musicians.
Drake’s debut mixtape, “Room for Improvement,” was made available on his official MySpace page and website in February 2005. He succeeded in directly selling over 6,000 copies. The next year, he dropped “Comeback Season,” his second mixtape. The mixtape was made available by him via October’s Very Own, a record label he recently founded (called OVO Records).
This mixtape contained the underground smash song “Replacement Girl.” The song’s music video was the first to be shown on BET by an unsigned Canadian rapper. A sample of the song “Man of the Year” by Brisco, Flo Rida, and Lil Wayne was spliced into one version of the song.
After hearing the song, Houston-based producer and Rap-A-Lot Records founder Jas Prince gave it to Lil Wayne. After being pleased, Lil Wayne gave Drake a call and asked him to come on his Tha Carter III tour in Houston. Drake and Wayne composed and recorded a number of songs throughout the tour, such as “Brand New,” “Forever,” and “Ransom.”
Young Money Entertainment
Contrary to popular belief, Drake was not yet signed to Wayne’s record company. In 2009, he dropped “So Far Gone,” his third mixtape. On his OVO website, he made the mixtape available for free download. Bun B, Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, Omarion, and Lloyd were among the guests on the mixtape. The mixtape peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was later certified gold by the RIAA after being downloaded 2000 times in its first hour. Eventually, the mixtape was published as an EP, which won the 2010 Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year and peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200.
Drake, who remained an independent artist, was suddenly in great demand in the music business. There was a bidding war as labels fought for his signature. There has been speculation that the desperate situation is “the biggest bidding war in music history,” but this has not been verified.
Drake inked a deal with Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment on June 29, 2009. Actually, Universal Music handled distribution for the record agreement, which was a joint venture between Young Money and its parent company, Cash Money.
Mainstream Success
Released on June 15, 2010, “Thank Me Later” was Drake’s first studio album. In both the US and Canada, the album peaked at #1. It peaked at number one on the US Rap, R&B/Hip Hop, and Billboard 100 charts. In the end, the RIAA certified it Platinum.
“Take Care,” his 2011 second studio album, also peaked at number one on many charts across multiple nations before reaching platinum six times.
Since then, every album has received at least four platinum awards.
One of the most prominent and successful figures in hip-hop and the music business overall is Drake.
Many of the greatest names in music, like as Travis Scott, Jay-Z, Eminem, and Kanye West, have collaborated with him. Drake has received several award nominations. He has received over 180 significant honors as of this writing, including four Grammys from over 40 nominations.
Drake makes almost $1 million every time he performs.
Singles Sold
Compared to other artists in history, Drake has sold the most digital singles. He has sold over 163 million digital singles as of this writing. That’s 40 million more than Rihanna, who came in second. With an estimated 26 million records sold, is the 80th-highest-selling musician of all time in terms of album sales. With Shania Twain (48 million) and Celine Dion (50 million), he is now the third-best-selling Canadian musician of all time.
Drake’s Earnings By Year
- 2010: $10 million
- 2011: $11 million
- 2012: $21 million
- 2013: $11 million
- 2014: $33 million
- 2015: $40 million
- 2016: $40 million
- 2017: $95 million
- 2018: $47 million
- 2019: $75 million
- 2020: $50 million
- 2021: $40 million
- 2022: $30 million
Total: $503 million
YOLO Estate
Drake was born in Canada, but he moved to Hidden Hills, California, in 2012 after paying $7.7 million in cash to the owner of a grand estate that had previously been the Saddle Ranch Bar in Los Angeles. The property, known as the YOLO Estate, has many homes, including a 2,000-square-foot party house and a 12,000-square-foot main house. The estate has one of the biggest privately owned pools in Southern California, horse stables, a full-sized basketball court, a sand volleyball court, and a 25-person movie theater. His lagoon-style pool round the outside of the home and has a swim-up bar, an 80-foot water slide, multiple waterfalls, and a grotto reminiscent of a Playboy mansion.
Drake said in an interview with Rolling Stone that he had been eyeing this property for years after finding it as one of the top results when searching for “craziest residential swimming pools” online. He spent years using an image of a pool as his computer’s backdrop to keep himself motivated. In 2009, the mansion was listed for $27 million by its previous owner. When the previous owner ran out of money in 2012, Drake pounced and purchased it for $7.7 million.
In 2015, he expanded his holdings by paying $2.8 million to purchase the nearby 1.6-acre estate. He expanded the property once again in 2018 when he paid $4.5 million to purchase a second nearby home.
His current private estate has 6.7 acres of continuous land at the end of a cul-de-sac, which alone cost $15 million to purchase.
In March 2022, Drake put the YOLO Estate up for sale, asking $22.7 million. The main home was also available for $14.8 million to a buyer.
NFL player Matthew Stafford purchased two of the three houses that were comprised the YOLO Estate for $11 million in April 2022—$3.6 million more than the asking price. The main “YOLO” home was not one of Matthew’s two acquisitions. The third parcel was purchased for $12 million in July 2022 by a buyer.
Toronto Mansion
Drake paid $6.7 million in 2016 to purchase a piece of property in The Bridle Path, a Toronto suburb. On the two acres, he went on to construct a 50,000-square-foot home. The home has an NBA-sized basketball court, a gym, an awards room, a 10-car garage, and many more amenities. At 3,200 square feet, the master bedroom is the largest.
In addition, he has an apartment in Toronto’s downtown.
$90 Million Beverly Hills Mansion
Drake was said to have closed on the purchase of British musician Robbie Williams’ 20-acre Beverly Hills estate on March 8, 2022. In an off-market transaction, Drake paid $75 million.
A little more than a year after paying $75 million for the Beverly Hills house, Drake put it up for sale in May 2023 with an asking price of $88 million.
Private Jet
Drake unveiled his recently bought Boeing 767 private plane on Instagram in May 2019. He has named and painted it “Air Drake.” Drake claims in the video that he owns the plane outright and is proud of it, saying there is “no rental, no timeshare, no co-owners.” A private airplane of the same style and caliber would cost between $75 and $100 million.
Drake’s Net Worth Milestones
In November 2009, Drake was added to Celebrity Net Worth for the first time, with a $1 million initial assessment. Only a few months before, he had joined with Young Money, Lil Wayne’s record label. His net worth exceeded $25 million by 2012. He exceeded $45 million by 2014. He first exceeded $80 million by the end of 2016. He easily surpassed $100 million by early 2018 because to his amazing near-$100 million profits in 2017. His net worth crossed the $150 million mark for the first time in May 2019.
Business Ventures
Drake has supported a number of well-known companies throughout the years, most notably Sprite, Burger King, Whataburger, Nike, and Apple. Drake had a $19 million exclusive contract with Apple Music at the time of its debut. Thanks to this agreement, Apple will be the first and only place where Drake’s future solo albums are available.
Warner Bros. Records distributes Drake’s own record label, OVO Sound, which he founded in 2012. Apart from Drake, OVO Sound now represents songs for producers including Boi-1da, Future the Prince, Mike Zombie, and others, as well as musicians like PartyNextDoor, Majid Jordan, and Kash Doll.
His role as the Toronto Raptors’ “global ambassador” includes hosting an annual Drake Night event alongside the team.
Virginia Black, a whiskey with a bourbon basis, was introduced by Drake in 2016. Four thousand bottles were sold by the company in its first week of business. The business shipped an additional thirty thousand units later in the year.
Tours
2010 saw Drake embark on his first headline tour, the “Away From Home Tour.” Through 2019, he went on five more headline tours. Moreover, he has co-headlined four tours, the most recent of which was in 2018 with the rap trio Migos.
With a revenue of $84.3 million from 54 gigs, his 2016 “Summer Sixteen Tour” was the highest-grossing hip-hop tour of all time. That works out to a $1.56 million gross per show on average. In 2018, he eclipsed that record with his Migos co-headlining tour, making $80 million over 43 performances. That works out to a $1.86 million gross per show on average.
Drake hosts the wildly popular “OVO Fest” in Toronto each summer, which sells out in a flash. Drake may easily make $500,000 for a single show during his continuing residency at the XS Nightclub in Las Vegas. For a more formal performance, he now receives more than $2 million.
Personal Life
Over the years, Drake has been involved in several high-profile partnerships. He intermittently dated Rihanna from 2009 to 2016. Later in life, he would refer to Rihanna as “the woman I’ve been in love with since I was 22 years old.”
Adonis, his son, was born in October 2017 to Sophie Brussaux, a French model, actor, and artist. Drake did not declare himself to be a parent until 2018.