What Is Kanye West's Net Worth In 2022? Ye Is No Longer A Billionaire

Until recently, almost everything Kanye West touched turned to gold. Ye hit the top of the charts like clockwork, sold out arenas in minutes, and made shoes like nothing anyone has seen before with huge price tags. All of his accomplishments once made him not only a pioneer in several industries but along with a very wealthy entertainer.

But all that came crashing down when West began making controversial public statements, many of which were filled with hate speech towards Black and Jewish communities. He was dropped by the talent agency CAA and lost lucrative partnerships with fashion houses like Balenciaga. On Oct. 25, after many weeks of public outcry, German sportswear company Adidas officially terminated their contract with his Yeezy brand, putting a large dent in his previous ten-figure net worth. Later the same day, Gap announced that they are taking “immediate steps” to remove Yeezy products from their stores.

Let’s take a look at how the artist amassed a net worth into the billions before losing a significant portion of it.

5 Ways Kanye West Makes His Money

1. Music

West’s forays into the apparel industry were the primary reason for his previous multi-billion dollar net worth, but it all started with the music. The rapper and designer rank among the bestselling and most successful artists ever when looking at critical acclaim and sales.

When his oft-delayed full-length Donda arrived, West scored his milestone tenth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, becoming just the seventh musician in U.S. history to reach that mark. In doing so, he joined a club that includes Eminem, The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, and frequent collaborator Jay-Z, with whom he shares one of his chart-toppers. On the Hot 100 in America, West has landed four No. 1s, 20 top 10s, and 135 appearances on the list, the fifth-most of all time.

Throughout his career, West has shifted certified 25.5 million albums in the U.S. and 124 million singles, the fifth-most among all artists in history. That figure expands to an estimated 140 million songs moved throughout the world. A 22-time Grammy winner (out of 75 nominations), West is tied for the tenth-most trophies among all artists, as well as the second-most among rappers, coming in behind only Jay-Z by one award.

In 2020, the Valentiam Group valued West’s music catalog at $110.5 million.

2. Music Businesses

West launched his record label GOOD Music, which stands for Getting Out Our Dreams, in 2005. In the nearly 20 years the company has been in business, albums from label signees John Legend, Common, Kid Cudi, Pusha T, and Big Sean have all performed well sales-wise.

In March 2015, West was one of 16 famous figures who appeared during a press conference for the launch of the new streaming service Tidal. He stood alongside Nicki Minaj, Daft Punk, Calvin Harris, Jason Aldean, Madonna, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Jay-Z, who was the business mastermind behind the event. West was named as a co-owner, and despite the inclusion of many of the most popular musicians in the business, Tidal never became as popular as competitors like Apple Music or Spotify. In 2017, West left the firm, claiming he was owed at least $3 million.

3. Touring

West has headlined half a dozen tours throughout his career, racking up combined grosses of more than $190 million. He has also opened for Usher, U2, and The Rolling Stones, with the last two treks wrapping as some of the highest-earning of all time. The rapper warmed up the crowd for U2, whose Vertigo Tour brought in $389 million. After he finished that run of shows, he joined The Rolling Stones, whose A Bigger Bang venture earned $558 million at the box office.

The “Hurricane” rapper has also played the occasional private concert, earning millions for doing so. It was reported that in 2011 West and Jay-Z flew to Dubai to perform for a sheikh’s family, for which they were reportedly paid $6 million. On his own, the hip-hop musician also took home $3 million for signing on to be the entertainment at the 2013 wedding of the grandson of then-Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

While he hasn’t embarked on a proper tour of his own since 2016’s The Saint Pablo Tour, West has still managed to sell tens of thousands of tickets to a handful of live events. Throughout the summer of 2021, West played his new album Donda for crowds in Atlanta and Chicago, with fans paying to listen to something that wasn’t even done yet. In past years, he’s also brought his religious group Sunday Service to a handful of shows, which fans could buy tickets for.

4. Shoes

The vast majority of West’s net worth comes from his success as a shoe designer. He got his start creating footwear for Nike, and with the sportswear brand, he crafted three bestselling products before their partnership ended. West saw how well his creations were selling and he wanted to earn royalties, but the clothing giant wasn’t willing to relent, and thus he broke off the deal. West has also designed shoes for companies like Louis Vuitton, Giuseppe Zanotti, and Bape.

West continued making money when he jumped ship from Nike and went over to Adidas, where he remained until Oct. 25 when the company officially cut ties after his anti-Jewish remarks. His Yeezy brand was a financial success for the two with Forbes reporting that Adidas attributed 4-8% of their overall sales to the partnership. Every time the company announced a new item, it was known to sell out instantly. In fact, the first pair to be released by West and Adidas, known as the Yeezy Boost 750, was limited to just 9,000 pairs, and they sold out in 10 minutes.

The rapper has released at least a dozen different shoe designs with Adidas, which offered him royalties, unlike Nike. In 2019, the Yeezy line reportedly raked in $1.3 billion in revenue for Adidas, with West personally pocketing about $147 million of that. In 2020, that number jumped to $1.7 billion for the brand, while he earned another $191 million in royalties.

When Adidas walked away in 2022, it was estimated that this partnership made up $1.5 billion of West’s net worth.

5. Clothing

Around the time he jumped into designing shoes, West also created a clothing line he called DW Kanye West. His debut line was criticized by journalists in the space, though he pushed forward to create more. While reviews did get better, the project didn’t last very long.

In 2020, West signed a decade-long deal with Gap to bring his unique style and the Yeezy name (which he still owns despite his working with Adidas for so many years) to the American chain of stores in association with Spanish luxury fashion brand Balenciaga. The first item to emerge from the partnership was a puffy jacket that sold for $200 in pre-orders, while later merchandising drops appeared in large trash bags in stores to much controversy.

An early estimate stated that West’s line with Gap brought in as much as $1 billion in incremental sales in its first year, but Gap and Balenciaga both also terminated their partnerships with West in September and October, respectively. It is believed that $970 million of West’s fortune could be attributed to the Gap deal.

What Is Kanye West’s Net Worth?

$400 MILLION

Forbes previously estimated West’s net worth at $1.8 billion as of April 3, 2022, while West claimed during a 2022 interview with Hollywood Unlocked that he was worth $10 billion. In 2021, Billboard pegged his net worth at $6.6 billion, so the range of what experts believed the hip-hop staple was worth previously varied widely. But with his recent controversies, West’s net worth has plummeted to $400 million.