Country Music's Money Crown: The Three Richest Stars in the Genre

Country music has always been the genre of the working man. But a handful of its biggest stars have turned that working man ethos into something that looks a lot more like a billion-dollar empire. Here is a look at the three wealthiest artists in country music history, and why the pecking order may be about to change in a very dramatic way.

#3: Shania Twain, $400 Million

Shania Twain grew up in Timmins, Ontario, in a household where food was often scarce and she was performing in bars at eight years old to help put money on the table. The distance between that childhood and a $400 million fortune is one of the great financial journeys in music history.

Come on Over, her 1997 collaboration with producer Mutt Lange, became the best-selling country album of all time and the best-selling album ever by a female artist in any genre, with over 40 million copies sold worldwide. She has moved more than 100 million albums globally across her career, rakes in tens of millions annually from sold-out world tours, and holds publishing rights to her own catalog. Despite having virtually nothing as a child, she rebuilt from scratch twice, once after poverty, and once after a very public divorce and a diagnosis of dysphonia that threatened to end her singing career entirely. Both times, she came back bigger. Dive deeper into her story with our bio video.

#2: Garth Brooks, $400 Million and Climbing

On paper, Garth Brooks sits at roughly the same net worth as Shania Twain. In practice, the gap between second and third place on this list may be enormous, because a number that surfaced this week changes everything.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Brooks is currently exploring a sale of his music catalog, including both songwriting and recording rights, with valuations ranging from the high $1 billion range to more than $2 billion. If completed, it would rank among the largest music rights sales ever tied to a single artist, surpassing Sony's $1 billion acquisition of Queen's catalog and dwarfing the $600 million paid for half of Michael Jackson's catalog.

The case for that valuation is not hard to make. Brooks is the top-selling album artist in United States history with 200 million album sales, surpassing The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and Taylor Swift according to the RIAA. He has nine Diamond-certified albums. His touring revenue has reached as much as $90 million in a single year, making him one of the highest-paid celebrities on the planet at his peak. 

And he accomplished all of this while refusing to put a single song on Spotify or Apple Music. If the deal closes anywhere near the reported number, it would instantly make Brooks the richest singer in the world. Country music has never produced a billionaire. That may be about to change. Read all about him on our website.

#1: Dolly Parton, $675 Million

For now, the crown belongs to the great Dolly Parton. Born the fourth of twelve children in a one-room cabin in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains, with a father who paid the doctor who delivered her with a sack of cornmeal, Dolly Parton has built a fortune that puts every other country artist to shame.

The music alone is staggering. She has released 47 career top-ten country albums, a record for any artist, and has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. But the fortune that sits at $675 million is about far more than record sales. There is Dollywood, the theme park empire in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, that draws over three million visitors a year. There are the television and film credits, the perfume lines, the merchandise empire, and a vast real estate portfolio. There is the Imagination Library, the literacy charity she founded in honor of her illiterate father, which has now delivered over 100 million free books to children under five years old. That last one does not make her richer. It just makes her better.

Dolly Parton once said, "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap." What it actually costs is a lifetime of relentless work, sharp business instincts, and the kind of brand loyalty that money cannot manufacture. She has all three in abundance.

The Garth Brooks catalog story is worth watching closely. A deal at the reported number would rewrite this list entirely. But for now, the Queen of Country Music is also the Queen of Country Money. Watch her full bio video today for more.