Benny Andersson (left) and Björn Ulvaeus (right) are a Swedish singing-songwriting duo most famous for their roles in the musical group, ABBA. The two met in June 1966, and started writing songs together, their first being “Isn’t It Easy To Say.” 1972, was when the pair, along with Andersson’s girlfriend at the time, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and fellow vocalist Agnetha Fältskog, formed the band ABBA.
ABBA went on, of course, to be one of the most widely recognized brands in the world, allowing Andersson and Ulvaeus to enjoy estimated net worths of $250-$300 each. Some of ABBA’s biggest hits include: “Dancing Queen,” “Take a Chance On Me,” “Waterloo,” and “Fernando,” from which they all still earn royalties. In addition to ABBA, Ulvaeus and Andersson are also famous for being a co-producers of critically acclaimed musicals and the film, Mama Mia.
$10 Million
Probably one of the most important names if you're a Rock n' Roll fan. Chuck Berry was the first to ever do it, and the genre's first guitar hero. He was inspired by singer-songwriter, Muddy Waters, but quickly took his own spin on Country and Blues to create what we call, Rock n' Roll.
His songs celebrated freedoms that were back then uniquely American, like fast cars in his song "Maybellene," or class mobility, like in "No Money Down," and even the country itself like in his famous "Back in the U.S.A." John Lennon once summed up Berry's immeasurable impact on the world of music once by saying, "If you gave rock & roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry."
$825 million
No other artist has gone through as many name changes as Sean Combs. Combs' debut album, No Way Out (1997) has gone seven times platinum. No Way Out was followed by even more successful albums, such as Forever(1999), The Saga Continues... (2001) and Press Play (2006). In 2009, he formed the group Diddy – Dirty Money and released the well-reviewed and extremely successful album Last Train to Paris (2010).
Sean Combs has won a total of three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards. He is also the producer of the MTV hit, Making the Band. In 2018, Forbes estimated that his net worth was at least $825 million. That makes him the second-richest hip hop recording artist.
$800 million
John Lennon is an English singer, songwriter, and peace activist who co-founded the Beatles, the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music. He and Paul McCartney, a fellow band member, entered into a highly vaunted partnership in songwriting. They would rise to meteoric fame in the 1960s, along with their partners George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The group sadly disbanded in 1970, and Lennon formed the Plastic Ono Band with Yoko Ono, his second wife.
Lennon’s solo albums hit 14 million units sold by 2012, and he boasted a full 25 number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 list, due to his unparalleled talent as a songwriter, co-writer, and performer.
$150 million
Born in Hawaii, this island boy born as Peter Gene Hernandez, is better known as Bruno Mars. Mars began performing as a young child, but gained wide recognition after the release of his debut single ‘Just The Way You Are’. But he didn't stop there, as he spawned several more international number-one singles like "Billionaire", "Grenade", and "The Lazy Song", which like most of his songs, he also wrote or co-wrote. Bruno Mars has earned numerous awards and honors throughout his career, brace yourself, because it's a long list. He has 11 Grammy Awards, 10 Soul Train Music Awards, 4 Guinness World Records, and one of the few artists who has a song that features only piano and vocals that topped the Hot 100. To date he has sold over 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the top selling artists of all time. Not to mention the quarter-billion dollars he just bagged on his 24K Magic World Tour.
Not only has Mars collaborated with some of the most popular artists to date, like Cardi B and Beyonce, but over the years, he's also written songs for big names in the industry, like Cee Lo Green, Adele, Matisyahu, Flo Rida, and Adam Levine. In 2011, Mars was listed in Time magazine's famous 100 most influential people in the world list, and Forbes magazine's '30 under 30' in 2013.