How much is Nicki Minaj worth?
| Net Worth: | $95 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Rapper |
| Date of Birth: | December 8, 1982 (age 40) |
| Country: | Trinidadian-born American |
| Height: | 5 ft 1 in (1.57 m) |
Who is Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj, whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj, was born on December 8, 1982, in Saint James, Trinidad, and Tobago. The talented Trinidad-born American is a famous rapper, songwriter, singer, model, and actress. She gained recognition after releasing her first mixtapes in 2007, 2008 and 2009 titled Playtime is Over, Sucka Free, and Beam Me Up Scotty. When she was only 5 years old, together with her family she moved to Queens.
At the height of her career, it is estimated that Nicki Minaj earned income equal to a salary of $25-30 million dollars per year.
During her teen years, Nicki was more into acting and she even took part in the Off-Broadway play called In Case You Forgot. Because she kept on struggling with her acting career, Minaj was forced to work as a waitress at the Red Lobster restaurant in the Bronx, from which she was fired because she showed “discourtesy to the customers”, the same reason she claims she was fired from “more than 15 other jobs”.
In 2004 when she briefly signed with the Brooklyn group called Full Force. Shortly after she joined, she rapped in a quartet named The Hood$tars and she went on to record five songs with the group, including the entrance theme song “Don’t Mess With” of WWE wrestler Victoria. Later, Minaj left the group and began uploading her own songs on Myspace, thanks to which, she was able to send her songs to various people from the music industry and contact Big Fendi, which ultimately led to her signing a contract with his label Dirty Money Entertainment. It was also during that time that she adopted the stage name, “Nicki Minaj”.
Shortly after she joined Big Fendi’s label, in July 2007, Minaj released her very first mixtape titled Playtime is Over that included 20 songs. Because female rappers weren’t that popular at the time, the up-and-comer received a lot of attention and positive reviews. The mixtape is considered to be unique (in comparison to the albums of other female rappers) because Minaj focused on the content of the entire mixtape rather than her sex appeal. That is also the reason why even now, she is considered to be one of the most influential female rappers of all time.
Almost a year after her first mixtape was released, in April 2008, Minaj released her second – Sucka Free. Even though the mixtape mostly included samples of other popular hip hop records, it featured collaborations with established hip hop artists. Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, Lil Kim, and Jadakiss were just some of the many names that Minaj worked with for her mixtape. One of her successful songs from it, was “Higher Than A Kite”.
The mixtape helped Minaj receive her first major award – Female Artist of the Year at the Underground Music Awards. Exactly a year later, her third mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty was released and it received good coverage on both MTV and BET. One of the songs I Get Crazy reached number 20 in the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart, which was her first entry in the chart.
From the time she released her mixtapes to the singles she released in 2017, Nicki Minaj became the first female artist to have the most entries on Billboard Hot 100 after Aretha Franklin. A record Minaj soon surpassed becoming the most appearing female in the chart, until it was surpassed again by Taylor Swift in 2020.
In 2010, Nicki Minaj became the first-ever female rapper to perform at the Yankee Stadium. Her other accomplishments from 2010 are appearing on the Annual Hottest MC List made by MTV, as well as, becoming the first woman to ever have seven different songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart simultaneously. She even received her first Grammy award nomination for her verse in the Ludacris song “My Chick Bad”.
To end the successful year of 2010, Minaj released her debut album Pink Friday. In just one week, more than 400,000 copies were sold and the album was generally well received. In both 2010 and 2011, Minaj kept on promoting her debut album by releasing different singles and performing them on popular shows such as Saturday Night Live, Good Morning America, and Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. In 2011, Minaj was nominated for three different Grammy Awards, and she won her first VMA award – Best Hip Hop Video for her song Super Bass. Her net worth at that time was estimated to have been $40 million dollars.
In February 2012, Minaj focused on her second album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded and released the lead single off it – Starships. The song became the fifth best-selling single of the year and, also, one of the best selling singles of all time.
In between releasing singles and albums, she performed four concert tours, lent her voice to Steffie in 2012’s Ice Age: Continental Drift, and debuted in 2014’s The Other Woman, opposite Cameron Diaz. She was nominated for a Teen Choice Award in 2016 for her role in Barbershop: The Next Cut.
Aside from this powerful motivating factor, Nicki’s talent is obvious in her ability to generate sell-out singles and albums. While critics may lambast her for selling out when she crossed over to pop and dance with Starship, that was a commercially astute move. Her success with her singles and album led to awards and work opportunities on many projects. She was able to revive her acting career and appeared in TV series, music videos, and movies, all of which helped her to cement her popularity.
Minaj’s Total Net Worth
Nicki Minaj has earned estimated total career income of $185 million dollars. That includes revenue earned from her endorsements with the likes of MAC Cosmetics, Nokia, Pepsi, H&M and Roberto Cavalli.
As Minaj lives in the state of California, she will have had to pay around 49% in taxes on her career income. After tax, it is estimated that her career earnings are at around $94.35 million dollars, having paid $90.65 million dollars in taxes.
Nicki Minaj married Kenneth Petty in 2019 and they remain together. They have one child. The couple pay $70,000 per month in rent for their home in Los Angeles. In her personal life Minaj has likely spent $6-7 million dollars of her career earnings but also earned $10-15 million dollars from her investments. Nicki is a shareholder of the Tidal streaming service. She will have also had to pay around $4-6 million dollars in business related costs. Therefore, it is estimated that Nicki Minaj has a net worth of around $95 million dollars.
Summing-Up
When it comes to artists, especially rappers, Nicki Minaj is truly one of a kind. She spent years working her way to the top and was able to release four different albums, all of which were sold out as soon as they were released. Her talent was immediately recognized by people in the music industry and her work is appreciated by music lovers all over the world. The number of awards and accomplishments she has received over the past couple of years prove just why Nicki Minaj is one of the best rappers of all time.
