Blake Shelton Was One of the Highest-Paid Musicians of 2021 — Above Taylor Swift
Rolling Stone has released its annual list of the highest-paid musicians for the previous year. Blake Shelton was the lone country artist to land in the publication's Top 10 highest-paid musicians of 2021 — unless you count Taylor Swift, who landed at No. 10.
According to Rolling Stone, the "Come Back as a Country Boy" singer raked in $83 million in 2021. That was good enough to put him at No. 9 on the all-genre list — just ahead of Swift, who earned $80 million in that 12-month timeframe.
Shelton had a fairly busy year, releasing a new album, Body Language, with a deluxe version coming just a few months later. His Friends & Heroes Tour brought in $14.5 million, and the publication says he made an eight-figure salary for serving as a coach on two seasons of The Voice. Rolling Stone also reports that he received $50 million for a "previously unreported catalog sale."
Selling the rights to their music proved to be lucrative for musicians in 2021. Of the 10 named, seven brought in at least $100 million, with five breaking the $200 million mark. Bruce Springsteen received $550 million for his catalog sale and landed at No. 1 on Rolling Stone's list with $590 million in total earnings. Jay-Z came in at No. 2 with $470 million, followed by Paul Simon, who earned $260 million.
Should Shelton sign on to be a coach on The Voice again in 2022, he will only serve one term. The reality singing competition will move to one season that will air in the fall. There have been rumors that Shelton may not be back next season, but so far there has been no evidence to confirm them. As the winningest coach in the history of the show, it's hard to believe he'd be ready to hang up his hat.