How much is Nelly worth?
| Net Worth: | $20 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Rapper |
| Date of Birth: | November 2, 1974 (age 48) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
About Nelly
Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. is better known by his stage name Nelly, who was born on November 2, 1974, in Austin Texas. At the age of seven, his parents divorced and Nelly and his mother moved to St. Louis Missouri. Growing up he had interests in basketball and rap and while in high school he formed a musical group known as St. Lunatics together with his friends. Since 2014 he has been dating Shantel Jackson, he has four children. He is a rapper, entrepreneur, and actor.
In 1996 Nelly and his music group St. Lunatics produced a single “Gimme What You Got” and they found some local success but the success did not last long. St. Lunatics decided that if Nelly went as a solo artist he would be better off and it would also bring more attention to the whole group. It was not long before Nelly got signed to a solo contract by Universal.
Nelly’s solo career began in 2000 with his debut album, Country Grammar becoming a huge hit while it featured appearances by St. Lunatics, Cedric the Entertainer, and Lil Wayne. The album went platinum in the United States and it debuted at number 3 on the 200 Billboard chart. It ranked at number 1 on the album chart, and the single ”Country Grammar” ranked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles and number 1 on the rap chart.
The album’s second single “Ride Wit Me’’ featuring a St. Lunatics member City Spud hit number 3 on the Billboard charts. In 2001 Nelly and St. Lunatics headed back to the studio and they released their first album, Free City, which was a big success in the United States going platinum.
In 2002 Nelly dropped his second album Nellyville which was very successful and the album topped most music charts selling millions of copies around the globe. The album went platinum six times over and the single “Hot in Herre” became a successful hit topping the Billboard chart at number 1.
This single gave Nelly a Grammy Award in 2003 for best male rap solo performance. This album also featured singles like “Dilemma” featuring Kelly Rowland, “Work it’ featuring Justin Timberlake, ”Air Force Ones” featuring Murphy Lee and St. Lunatics, “Pimp Juice”, and “#1”.
In 2004 Nelly dropped his third album Sweat an R&B album and Suit which was more rap oriented. Suit topped the Billboard album chart at number 1 and Sweat debuted at Number 2. With these albums, Nelly kept riding high in the world of music. In 2005 Nelly combined songs from Sweat and Suit adding three new tracks to come up with the Sweat Suit album. The single “Grillz” from this album was at number 1 on the charts and other singles such as “My Place” and “Flap Your Wings” also burned up the charts.
Nelly launched his fifth studio album Brass Knuckles and it reached number 3 on the Billboard albums chart. The single “Party People” ranked at Number 40 on the Billboard 100 and the other singles such as “Body on Me” and “Stepped on My J’Z” ranked at number 42 and 90 respectively. In 2010 he released the 5.0 album that had hits like “Just a Dream”, “Gone” and “Move that Body”. In 2013 he followed up with the album M.O that had collaborations with Nicki Minaj and Pharrell Williams.
Nelly didn’t just get rich from the music scene, he has also featured in TV shows and Films. He played the role of Earl Megget in Adam Sandler’s 2005 comedy film The Longest Yard. He also had a role on CSI: NY. He has been involved in reality TV shows such as Nellyville for two seasons and also he featured prominently in Real Husbands of Hollywood.
Nelly’s Total Net Worth
Almost all of Nelly’s earnings have come from his music albums and tours. He made most of his money in the earl 2000s with the release of his album Country Grammar selling over 10 million copies worldwide.
As his success grew as an artist, Nelly began to start ventures and sign deals. He ventured into the fashion industry for both men and women’s apparel. He started two clothing lines namely Apple Bottoms for women and Vokal for men. He also had a limited sneaker collection known as Air Derrty, signing a deal with Reebok.
He invented Pimp Juice and sold it as an energy drink. He owns Mike and Ikes candy and has endorsements from VapoRub, Cheetos, Got Milk, and the Ford Motor Company advertisement campaigns.
His riches have come from sales of his music albums and, to a lesser extent, entrepreneurial ventures. Overall it is estimated that Nelly has earned $130 million dollars in career earnings to date. Unfortunately it seems that instead of wisely investing that money he overspent, incurred losses and ultimately is speculated to possessess far less wealth than he otherwise could have done.
Even considering Nelly has lived and worked out of Texas where state income tax is 0%, his federal tax has been high on his total career earnings. He will have had to pay some 37% tax on his earnings. That is after considering the years that he earned much of his wealth, in the 90s federal tax was at 39.6% for the top earning bracket, he also experienced very high earnings years in the early 2000s.
Having paid taxes of about $48.1 million dollars, Nelly’s total career earnings will have been about $81.9 million. His peak net worth may have been around $60 million dollars in around 2008.
Nelly has never married but has two children. His personal life has included some drug possession and other minor charges. In 2016, the IRS placed a lien on Nelly’s assets for an amount of $2.4 million asserting unpaid taxes.
While Nelly had unpaid taxes, that does not automatically mean that he was broke. It may have simply been a case that he did not pay his taxes on time. Whether that was done purposefully, or by mistake, is also unknown. However it has been long suspected, and there have been various unsubstantiated reports, that Nelly overspent on his earnings, incurred losses, and possibly may have lost $40 million dollars of his net worth.
When a rapper or other “baller” is overspending it is unlikely that they are properly managing their fortune. Rather they are in an out of balance state of mind and may even be (inadvertently) trying to dispose of the money because it is causing them relationship problems, and similar. While many may think that there should be no problems for a man like Nelly to possesses some $60 million dollars. That is seldom the case.
Rather, what has come out in various data and reports about high earning individuals, is the money has an affect on their brain. It can cause a type of mental health crisis because the numbers are so far removed from anything the individual has experienced before. It can also cause others to try and take advantage of them, and many suspect, that individuals who do lose sizable portions of their wealth, or all of it. Did so somewhat on purpose. The money was causing too many psychological problems for them. Whether this was the case with Nelly, or if indeed he did lose a sizable portion of his net worth, is largely unknown. However it has been long suspected by some.
Still, overall, it is estimated that Nelly may possessess a net worth of about $20 million dollars. He continues to produce music and was one of the most popular rap artists of the 90s and early 2000s. Nelly released his new album Heartland, in 2021, including the popular song, “Lil Bit”.
Nelly developed a huge fan base because he tapped into overlooked music markets. He offered fresh music styles that went well with rap music. He rapped out of the ordinary rap combining a Southern drawl that was mixed with Midwestern slang. With these mixtures of two different genres, it gave his music a unique and memorable quality. His pronunciation of words was unique drawing more people to his music and making him stand out among a crowd of new upcoming rap artists.
He made catchy songs making it easy for pop radio stations to get hooked to his songs. His songwriting was also unique because his songs started with a big memorable chorus that worked well with the beat. Versus like, “It’s gettin’ hot in herre (so hot), so take off all your clothes — I am, gettin’ so hot, I wanna take my clothes off”; were really popular at the time and still are also.
Nelly is also a huge sport fan and making sports culture a big part of his music broadened his market and caused more people to listen to his songs. Wearing jerseys of his favorite teams like St. Louis Rams and St. Louis Cardinals he was able to reach the sports community. In return, he got embraced by the sports community by using his songs as theme songs.
Summing-Up
Nelly is a famous award-winning American rapper, actor, and entrepreneur who has a huge fan base. His crossover appeal distinguishes him from other artists. He has been considered as one of the biggest stars in rap music. He started his music career during his high school days with the group St. Lunatics. He has a distinctive signature style that has made him famous in front of his audiences and fans. Nelly has won three Grammy awards, trophies from MTV and American Music Awards.
In addition to his rapping, acting, and being an entrepreneur, Nelly is a philanthropist. He has given back to society by contributing to different philanthropic causes. He runs a non-profit foundation known as 4Sho4Kids. He is also involved in raising money for scholarships through hosting St. Louis “White and Black Ball”. The scholarships send two students to college every year.
