METALLICA, KISS, THE OSBOURNES On ROLLING STONE's 'Rock Rich' List

February 26, 2004

METALLICA have made it to No. 5 on Rolling Stone magazine's "2004 Rock Rich List", with an estimated income last year of $39.1 million.

"METALLICA rank with THE BEATLES in the top five catalog sellers of the year, with 1.6 million copies of their old albums moving in the U.S.," the magazine writes. "The band's new album, 'St. Anger', did alright, too, selling more than 1.5 million in the U.S. With catalog sales so strong, their label, Elektra, has no chance to drive down royalty payments with the usual record-company charge-backs for marketing and unsold units. When their deal came up for renewal, METALLICA negotiated a royalty rate well above two dollars a unit. The Summer Sanitarium Tour grossed close to $50 million in the U.S. Gigs at big European festivals earned the band close to $1 million a night."

With regards to KISS, who came in at No. 26, Rolling Stone writes: "Years ago, AEROSMITH's manager David Krebs reportedly said that he would never let his band play on the same stage with KISS. But he hasn't managed AEROSMITH since 1984, and in 2003, the AEROSMITH-KISS double bill was netting each band more than $400,000 a night. KISS' Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley (the other two guys are on the payroll) have a much larger merchandising arm — they make more than $1 million in KISS kitsch when the band is on the road. But AEROSMITH sold more records from their catalog than KISS did."

01. THE ROLLING STONES - $84.1 million
02. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - $81.7 million
03. THE EAGLES - $62.9 million
04. DIXIE CHICKS - $39.8 million
05. METALLICA - $39.1 million
06. TOBY KEITH - $38.7 million
07. BON JOVI - $36.1 million
08. SHANIA TWAIN - $36.1 million
09. SIMON AND GARFUNKEL - $35.8 million
10. CHER - $33.8 million
11. CELINE DION - $33.1 million
12. FLEETWOOD MAC - $32.5 million
13. ROBBIE WILLIAMS - $32.5 million
14. CHRISTINA AGUILERA - $27.9 million
15. JENNIFER LOPEZ - $29.1 million
16. DAVE MATTHEWS - $27.3 million
17. JIMMY BUFFETT - $25.8 million
18. ICE CUBE - $25.7 million
19. THE BEATLES - $25.6 million
20. NORAH JONES - $25.6 million
21. JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE - $24.7 million
22. ELTON JOHN - $24.6 million
23. COLDPLAY - $23.7 million
24. QUEEN LATIFAH - $23.3 million
25. AEROSMITH - $22.5 million
26. KISS - $22.1 million
27. KENNY CHESNEY - $21.9 million
28. EMINEM - $20.8 million
29. YANNI - $20.5 million
30. JAMES TAYLOR - $20 million
31. PHISH - $19.4 million
32. DR. DRE - $18.6 million
33. JOHN MAYER - $17.1 million
34. 50 CENT - $16.9 million
35. TIM MCGRAW - $16.7 million
36. R. KELLY - $14.4 million
37. MATCHBOX TWENTY - $14 million
38. P. DIDDY - $13.9 million
39. BILLY JOEL - $13.8 million
40. BROOKS AND DUNN - $13.6 million
41. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - $13.4 million
42. PEARL JAM - $13.4 million
43. PAUL MCCARTNEY - $13.3 million
44. MANA - $12.1 million
45. THE DEAD - $11.4 million
46. BILL GAITHER - $11.2 million
47. THE OSBOURNES - $10.3 million
48. TRANS SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA - $10.3 million
49. RADIOHEAD - $10 million
50. EROS RAMAZOTTI - $10 million

Check out the entire list and read Rolling Stone's comments on select artists here.

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