Spinning music at a club can be a fun side gig for young students and professionals, but the best paid DJs have made a career out of entertaining the masses with their remixes and original tracks. Although electronic dance music, or EDM, house, dub, and techno weren’t usually branches of the music industry where you could win big bucks, this landscape has been changing over the past decade. Today, the highest earning electro artists generate an extraordinary income through festival performances, record sales, and brand endorsements.
Just like our favourite rock and pop stars, the DJs on this list are responsible for creating some of the best dance tunes in the world and if you check out our previous list on the best music mashups of 2014, you’ll be sure to find most of these artists involved. So, who are the ultimate electro kings, reigning over the EDM universe? According to Forbes compilation of 2014’s highest earners, these are the best paid DJs.
5. Steve Aoki
Annual Earnings: $23 million
One of the highest earning DJs in the world is also the biggest workaholic. In 2014, Steve Aoki managed to play an astonishing 277 shows, sometimes performing three times in the same day. How is this physically possible? Well, the champion DJ sleeps in two to three hour slots, while travelling to different locations. But furthermore, he cracked the top 5 of our list by additionally receiving endorsements from Bud Light, Guitar Center, and Scion, as well as holding a minority stake in the headphone brand Sol Republic.
4. Tiesto
Annual Earnings: $28 million
Although the Dutch DJ launched his career in Europe with a residency in the Ibiza club scene, his growing popularity led him to switch environments and increase the number of his annual performances. Today, Tiesto plays over 100 times in a year and his residency in the biggest nightclub in America, Hakkasan – located in Las Vegas – earned him a fortune in 2014. Furthermore, this year is bound to be another spectacular one for Tiesto, as he just won the Grammy for Best Remix.
3. Avicii
Annual Earnings: $28 million
The youngest artist on our list of the best paid DJs is this Swedish gentleman who set the bar for the best-selling electronic song in the US. “Wake me up” sold over 4 million copies and set the pace for his debut album True, which boosted his popularity and earnings significantly in 2014. Considering that he played 80 gigs throughout the year, receiving a six figure salary each time, his $28 million annual earnings are bound to escalate over the next few years.
2. David Guetta
Annual Earnings: $30 million
The French super DJ landed his first hit in 2007 and since then, his career has skyrocketed. In 2014, he went on tour with Rihanna, as well as producing songs for Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. However, in addition to this, he’s also one of the top earning DJs in Las Vegas, as well as the resident DJ at Ibiza’s “F**k me I’m famous” party. Therefore, his salary of $30 million should come as no surprise.
1. Calvin Harris
Annual Earnings: $66 million
Who would have thought that the man who worked as a grocery store stocker would one day become the best paid DJ in the world? Well, I guess Adam Richard Wiles, better known under his stage name Calvin Harris, played his cards right, because today he makes music with some of the industry’s pop giants, like Rihanna and Kesha. And apart from headlining festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza, he also enjoys a multi-year contract with the Las Vegas mega nightclub, Hakkasan. Considering he played 125 gigs in 2014 alone, it only makes sense he would crown our list of the best paid DJs.
