Drake joins Forbes list of top 5 richest hip-hop stars

Rapper Aubrey Drake Graham became the newest member of The Forbes five club of hip-hop’s wealthiest artist on Monday with a net worth of $60 million.

The annual list had regularly included rap artistes Bryan Birdman Williams, Andre Dr. Dre Young, Shawn Jay Z Carter, Curtis 50 Cent Jackson and Sean Diddy Combs.

Due to the mismanagement of funds which resulted in a bankruptcy last summer, 50 Cent was superseded by Drake, who had increased his net worth through touring, music releases and business deals with Nike, Sprite and Apple.

Drake’s forth studio album views, a Toronto native who goes by his middle name, sold an estimated 630,000 copies on its April 29 release date, according to Vibe Magazine.

With each album selling at $13.99 exclusively on iTunes, the 29-year-old made about $800,000 on the night of the release.

Business mogul and rap artist Diddy continued to hold the number one title with a net worth of $750 million.

Thanks to his agreement with Diageo’s Circo vodka, stakes in his music television network Revolt, his clothing line Sean John and more.

Dr Dre followed with $710 million, then Jay Z in third place with $610 million and finally Birdman, who came fourth with $110 million.

While his net worth was small in comparison to his fellow club members, Drake was quickly climbing the ranks, earning some $150 million to date before taxes and spending, Forbes said.

The business magazine analyzes artistes’ past earnings, values their current holdings and talks to industry specialists to determine which hip-hop star makes it on the list.

Combined together, Forbes disclosed that, all five artists are worth $2.2 billion.