Kendrick Lamar tops hip-hop’s 2025 top-earning list with $109 million, making him $31 million more than Drake following their feud, legal troubles and the huge success of “Not Like Us.”
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Kendrick Lamar has secured his spot as hip-hop’s top earner in 2025, ranking fourth on Forbes’ annual list of the highest-paid musicians with earnings of $109 million. The Compton rapper’s massive salary puts him well ahead of longtime rival Drake, who ranks seventh with $78 million, according to Forbes.
The pay gap between the two superstars goes beyond just numbers. A year before Kendrick became financially dominant, he absolutely destroyed Drake in a public feud that culminated in the chart-topping diss track “Not Like Us.”
This song didn’t just win the culture war; It also wins the money game.
Drake’s $78 million earnings still place him among the music industry’s elite earners, but the $31 million gap between him and Kendrick stings even more, especially after Drake’s embarrassing legal defeat in October 2025, when a federal judge dismissed his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group for “Not Like Us.”
The Canadian rapper sued UMG in January 2025, claiming the label unfairly promoted Kendrick’s diss song and called him a pedophile. Drake believes the song damaged his reputation and put him in danger.
The judge disagreed and dismissed the case, leaving Drake with nothing but a legal bill and a final appeal.
Even though Kendrick didn’t release any solo music in 2025, he still earned $109 million. He earns more than $350 million from streaming royalties and the huge international success of his Nationwide Tour.
On the Forbes list, The Weeknd ranked first with $298 million, Taylor Swift ranked third with $202 million, and Beyoncé ranked third with $148 million. Kendrick’s fourth-place finish makes him the highest-paid rapper on the entire list, a title that might be even sweeter since he beat out Drake for the title.
Drake ends 2025 as Spotify’s most-streamed artist globally, but stream numbers don’t always translate into top salaries. Kendrick proves that winning the culture war can be just as profitable as winning the streaming war.
The earnings reveal a brutal year for Drake, who went from rap’s golden boy to public enemy No. 1 in the wake of Kendrick’s lyrical assault. Between diss tracks, failed lawsuits, and a RICO case related to Stake streaming fraud, 2025 is shaping up to be the year Kendrick Lamar fully owns Drake.
