Top 15 Richest Music Producers In The World

Richest music producers include Mike Dean who has a net worth of $8 million. Dean was born on March 1, 1965, in Houston, Texas.

The producer has been active in the music industry since 1983 and has become a legend in the Hip Hop genre. He is best known for pioneering the Dirty South sound of the 1990s and has worked with many prominent rappers from the era like Scarface, Nate Dogg, and UGK.

He has continued working with rappers throughout his career and is best known for being a frequent collaborator of Kanye West, another producer, and a prominent rapper. Dean has worked on almost every project that West has put out, from mixing his first couple of albums to becoming a co-producer on his more recent projects from the 2010s onwards.

Dean has also worked with various pop artists like Drake, Madonna, Selena Gomez, and The Weeknd to name a few, and most recently has announced that he plans to form a long-term collaboration with popular singer Lana Del Rey. Aside from his production work, Dean also owns a record label called M.W.A, named after the popular rap group, N.W.A, which he launched on May 2017.

Metro Boomin is an American Hip-Hop producer with a net worth of over $16 million. He was born on September 16, 1993, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Metro started his career in 2009 at the age of 16, and by the time he hit his early 20s, had already become one of the hottest producers in Atlanta, Georgia. In the same way, Mike Dean influenced the Dirty South sound, Metro pioneered and popularized the trap sound that Atlanta, and then all of Hip-Hop used throughout the 2010s.

The producer is especially known for his collaborations with various Atlanta and Southern Hip-Hop artists like Future, Young Thug, Migos, Gucci Mane, and 21 Savage. He has seen a lot of success with 21 Savage especially due to their complementary styles which can be seen in their many collaboration albums.

In recent years, Metro has started releasing projects in his own name rather than collaborations albums or featuring other rappers' songs. He has released two studio albums, Not All Heroes Wear Capes in 2018 and Heroes & Villains in 2022, with rappers, instead featuring in his songs, and both of these albums debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 album charts.

RZA is a producer and the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan who has a net worth of $18 million. He was born on July 5, 1969, in New York City.

Not only is he the de facto leader of the legendary hip-hop group, but also the group's main producer. He dominated the 1990s by producing all the tracks on the group's seminal debut albums, and when the various rappers in the group splintered off to their own projects, RZA produced the tracks for their individual solo or collaboration albums too. 

Hailed by many as one of, if not the best rappers in Hip-Hop past and present, RZA pioneered a style of music production that featured soul samples against a sparing drum beat. His style has since been replicated, imitated, and straight-up ripped off by many. 

Aside from making music for albums, the producer has also worked in film since the late 90s by either scoring for movies like Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill duology or making his own movies. He has written and directed his own movie called The Man with the Iron Fists and appeared in various movies and TV shows like American Gangster, Brick Mansions, Gang Related, and Californication.

Finneas O'Connell is an American producer, singer, and actor who has a net worth of $20 million. He was born on July 30, 1997, in Los Angeles, California.

Best known for being the sole producer for his sister, Billie Eilish, Finneas has long been known as her secret weapon. The producer works with his sister to craft her unique and singular music which has turned her into a pop sensation, and him into a critical darling.

However, the producer also releases solo music as well under the mononym, Finneas, and though not as popular as his sister, he has garnered a lot of fame by himself too. So far, he has released an EP called Blood Harmony in 2019, and an album called Optimist in 2021, with the former being his most popular solo project to date.

Like RZA, Finneas has also branched out to scoring for movies and has worked on three so far as the main producer or co-producer, all released in 2022: The Fallout, Turning Red, with Ludwig Goransson, and Vengeance. He has won various awards for his musical work, with his crowning achievements being the 8 Grammy awards he has won so far, which include being the youngest person to win Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.

Travis Scott is an American rapper and producer with a net worth of over $60 million. He was born on April 30, 1991, in Houston, Texas.

Scott is one of the most popular and well-respected rappers of the modern age, with many of his albums regarded as some of the most forward-thinking and experimental in mainstream hip-hop. This is due in part to his production skills more so than his rapping.

The producer first gained recognition during the early 2010s for his unique style of production which mixed the dirty south sound of Southern Hip-Hop of the 90s with the trip-hop sound reminiscent of UK garage. This led to Scott signing a joint label contract with Epic Records and Kanye West's GOOD Music label with the former being a record contract and the latter being a publishing deal.

In the decade since he signed those contracts, Scott has three highly acclaimed and successful albums, and two equally successful collaboration albums with his group, Jackboys and Quavo from Migos. He has had over 89 songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100, with 11 of those songs peaking within the Top 10, and four of those songs topping the charts at number 1. 

Timbaland is an American producer who has a net worth of $85 million. He was born on March 10, 1972, in Norfolk, Virginia.

Alongside Pharell, Timbaland is one of the most popular and prolific producers of the 2000s known for his futuristic sound which not only launched the career of many artists but became a mainstay of the decade. His production is seen as innovative by many in Hip-Hop and other genres and influenced much of the rap produced in the 2010s.

Some of the producer's biggest collaborations have been with big artists like the late Aaliyah and Jay-Z in particular. In the case of the latter, Timbaland made the beat for many of Jay-Z's most popular hits, with the best-remembered one being the iconic beat to Dirt Off Your Shoulder.

However, the producer is best known for launching the careers of many artists with the three biggest examples being Missy Elliott, Justin Timberlake, and Nelly Furtado. In each case, Timbaland crafted a unique sound for the artists which led to their most prominent work, and his work with Timberlake and Furtado in particular is still the most popular music the two have met despite their careers far outlasting their collaboration with Timbaland. 

Brian Wilson is an American producer and singer who has a net worth of $100 million. He was born on June 20, 1942, in Inglewood, California.

Wilson is perhaps best known for being the co-founder and leader of the seminal rock and roll band the Beach Boys. The producer is credited for turning the band from a run-of-the-mill surf rock band to one of the most influential acts not only in the history of rock and roll but the history of modern pop music.

Perhaps his most popular work is in the Beach Boys' best-remembered album, Pet Sounds, which is known for pushing the envelope in rock and roll alongside the Beatles' Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. In Pet Sounds, Wilson turned the whole studio into an instrument and crafted sounds and arrangements that changed recording and producing for years, even decades to come.

Sadly, the producer is known for his mental and emotional troubles as famously as he is known for his successes and saw a  decline in health, both physical and mental, in the late 1960s. He spent much of the late 20th century under the abusive conservatorship of his psychologist, Eugene Landy, but thankfully returned to autonomy in the 1990s, and has since been touring as a solo artist to widespread success.

Nile Rodgers is an American musician and producer who has a net worth of $200 million. He was born on September 19, 1952, in New York City.

Rodgers started his career as one of the founders of the disco band, Chic, which made a unique blend of jazz, soul, and funk in the late 70s. Sadly, the band's immediate success was followed by a crushing failure due to the backlash against disco that occurred around the same time. 

However, as one door closed another opened, and Rodgers saw a second wind in his career after he started collaborating with and producing for other bands and artists. His most famous collaborators are Diana Ross and David Bowie, and in the case of the latter, Rodgers is responsible for Bowie's most commercially successful album, Let's Dance.

Though he kept producing throughout the late 20th century well into the present day, he saw renewed interest and visibility from mainstream fans when he worked with the French electronic duo, Daft Punk on their last album, Random Access Memories. He earned many Grammy awards for his work on the album and has since been inaugurated in both the Rock and Roll and Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Pharrell Williams is an American singer, rapper, and producer with a net worth of $250 million. He was born on April 5, 1973, in Virginia Beach.

He first gained fame in the 2000s for both founding and leading the hip-hop band, N.E.R.D., and for his production work with N.E.R.D. bandmate Chad Hugo as The Neptunes.

His work in the latter especially increased both his acclaim and income as The Neptunes became one of the seminal production acts of the 2000s. Like Timbaland, the duo's work was inescapable during the decade and they worked with some of the biggest acts of the day like Jay-Z, Beyonce, Usher, Britney Spears, and Snoop Dogg, to name a few.

However, what makes Pharrell unique is that he is known for his own music just as much as he is for producing other people's music. The producer has notched 24 songs in the Hot 100 as either a lead or featured artist, and among those 24, 7 have been Top 10 hits, and of those ten, 4 have topped the chart, with his solo song, Happy, even being the biggest song of 2014. 

Rick Rubin is an American producer who has a net worth of over $300 million. He was born on March 10, 1963, in Long Beach, New York. 

Like Mike Dean, Rubin has been an everpresent force in Hip-Hop since the 1980s, but two facts differentiate him from the Southern producer. Rubin has worked in genres outside of Hip-Hop, and he doesn't know how to play a single instrument.

The latter fact would make him a controversial figure if not for his successes. Rubin has been credited with building or revitalizing the careers of some of the most prominent artists throughout the decades, and his list of collaborators ranges from hip-hop acts like the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J to rock acts like The Strokes and Weezer, to even Country singers like Johnny Cash.

His work with Cash has been widely regarded as not only some of the best in the late Country singer's career but also for plucking him out of obscurity after decades of failed releases. It is due to his impressive resume of successes across a wide range of genres that Rubin holds an almost worshipped status in popular music, and is seen by some to be the best producer of all time. 

Max Martin is a Swedish producer and songwriter with a net worth of $350 million. He was born on February 26, in Stockholm, Sweden.

Martin is known for having written the third most number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100, with 25 songs topping the list from the late 90s to the present day. He is only beaten by Paul McCartney and John Lennon of the Beatles who have 32 and 2 respectively.

The producer has worked with some of the most prominent artists in pop, rock, and R&B with his list of collaborators ranging from prominent artists across four different decades. Some of his biggest collaborators are Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and most recently the Weeknd, and he has written and produced each artist's most popular song.

Martin is often seen as a sure-fire hitmaker, with many believing that if he wrote or produced a song, it would undoubtedly become a hit and chart on the Billboard Hot 100. In fact, the producer's successes even outlast him as each of his three disciples, Savan Kotecha, Dr. Luke, and Shellback have become hitmakers in their own rights, and continue his tradition of delivering number 1s.

Kanye West, or Ye, is an American rapper and producer who has a net worth of $400 million. He was born on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Ye is one of the most celebrated, respected, and controversial figures in hip-hop and modern pop culture. He is equally beloved for the critically and commercially successful music he has made and reviled for his benign and harmful verbal antics.

The rapper/producer has one of the most celebrated discographies in Hip-Hop with each album delivering a completely different sound and ethos. Ranging from the soul samples of his early work, the maximalism of his middle era, and the minimalism of his more recent work, Ye's music catalog continues to bring him fans despite the way he acts outside of music.

With controversial statements that have outraged the Jewish community, friendship with disgraced former president Donald Trump, and continued attacks on his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, Ye has worn the love he's received for his music thin. In fact, the controversies surrounding him have hurt him financially as well, due to the fact that his net worth exceeded the billions back in early 2022.

Quincy Jones is an American producer and songwriter with a net worth of $500 million. He was born on March 14, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois.

Jones is widely celebrated as one of the greatest producers of all time, and definitely, the one who has seen the longest amount of success. In a career that started in 1951, the producer has accumulated over 80 Grammy nominations, and 28 Grammy wins during that time.

The producer is perhaps best known for his collaborations with the legendary singer and songwriter Michael Jackson. The two made a commanding and influential duo as together they made three of Jackson's most popular albums: Off the Wall in 1979, Thriller in 1982, and Bad in 1987.

In fact, Jones' work with Jackson has been credited for elevating the singer's already considerable skills and adding a new dimension to the music that would make Jackson the King of Pop.

Dr. Dre is an American rapper, producer, and entrepreneur with a net worth of $850 million. He was born on February 18, 1965, in Compton, California. 

Dre is best known for his work with the West Coast gangster rap group N.W.A. Like RZA, Dre worked as the primary producer of the group.

However, the producer continued making music after the group's dissolution and made two of the most well-regarded albums in 1992's The Chronic and 1999's 2001. He is best known for pioneering a sub-genre of hip-hop called G-Funk.

Aside from music, he is known for his entrepreneurial skills which come in the form of his premier electronic company, Beats Electronic, which has made some of the most successful earphones and headphones of the current age. He has also discovered many successful rappers like Eminem and 50 Cent.

P Diddy is the richest producer in the world with a net worth of $1 billion. He was born on November 4, 1969, in New York City.

Diddy is best known for producing and championing the work of 90s rapper the Notorious B.I.G. Functioning as Quincy Jones to Big's Michael Jackson, the two charted to the top of Hip-Hop until the rapper's unfortunate passing.

However, the producer continued his career and gathered even more fame and acclaim by not only releasing his own music but founding his own label Bad Boy Records. Like Dre,

Diddy is also a successful entrepreneur and has opened everything from clothing lines to collaborations with various brands like the vodka brand Ciroc.