Kelly Clarkson Net Worth

The Kelly Clarkson net worth total is $88 million. Our deep analysis shows concert earnings, merchandise sales, endorsements and YouTube revenue adding up to $182 million for the singer. Taxes and expenses take back more than half of that, while investments add back 6% per year. By far the biggest contributor to Clarkson’s net worth is concerts. A deep dive into her concert earnings shows $129 million in Clarkson earnings for all concerts since 2002. Merchandise sales are a distant second, kicking in $19 million, with endorsements bringing in about $9 million. YouTube ad revenue pumps $6.4 million in the Kelly Clarkson net worth sum as of 6/6/16. Clarkson has made nearly $17 million from sales of her seven albums and 32 singles, plus a small additional amount from acting. The Kelly Clarkson net worth story started back in 2002 and reached its peak in 2005. Since then the artist’s earnings have held a respectable if gradually shrinking level.

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth Facts

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth Facts
Kelly Clarkson Net Worth$83,549,965
Kelly Clarkson net worth vs Miley Cyrus net worthHalf as big
Kelly Clarkson net worth vs Madonna net worth1/7th as big
Kelly Clarkson net worth vs Selena Gomez net worthTwice as big
Kelly Clarkson net worth vs Katy Perry net worth34% smaller
Kelly Clarkson net worth vs Taylor Swift net worth1/4th as big
Kelly Clarkson net worth vs Nicki Minaj net worth8% bigger
Kelly Clarkson net worth vs Demi Lovato net worthAbout the same
Kelly Clarkson net worth vs Hillary Clinton net worth3 times bigger
Kelly Clarkson net worth vs typical American family net worth1,225 times bigger

Kelly Clarkson Net WorthKelly Clarkson is incredibly rich. The Kelly Clarkson net worth figure of $88 million stacks up just fine against other similar artists like Demi Lovato and Nicki Minaj. In fact, Kelly Clarkson’s net worth is 8% bigger than Minaj’s $77 million and about the same as Lovato’s net worth. Measured financially, Miley Cyrus is a much bigger star than Clarkson, with a bigger acting career, higher concert earnings and much higher album sales. Those factors contribute to the higher Miley Cyrus fortune, which at $197 million is much higher than the Kelly Clarkson net worth sum. Clarkson has 34% less wealth than Katy Perry’s $126 million and only about 1/4th as much money as Taylor Swift’s net worth of $308 million. Who is Clarkson richer than? Selena Gomez for one. Clarkson has twice as much money as the young star’s $45 million. She also has three times more money than Hillary Clinton’s $32 million, though that doesn’t include husband Bill Clinton’s $88 million. Finally, Kelly Clarkson has 1,225 times the money of the typical American with $68,000.

These days Clarkson is more about devoting time to her growing family than trying to grow her career. The 34 year old mom sat out the final round of American Idol in the spring of 2016 to give birth to her second child. Clarkson has turned to writing children’s books, though so far her income from it doesn’t play a significant part in her net worth.

Kelly Clarkson net worth timeline

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth Timeline

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth by Year
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2002$564,590
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2003$1,477,794
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2004$6,558,532
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2005$23,262,243
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2006$33,136,192
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2007$38,016,976
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2008$44,265,309
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2009$49,113,502
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2010$53,842,405
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2011$56,606,716
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2012$67,160,736
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2013$71,421,978
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2014$74,378,931
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2015$80,676,983
Kelly Clarkson net worth 2016$83,549,965

The timeline above is built on Kelly Clarkson’s income sources, shown in detail in the sections below. The slow start in the years from 2002 through 2004 show her discovery on American Idol and her first hit albums, Thankful and Breakaway, but the star didn’t get on the worldwide concert tour circuit until 2005, when she headlined the Breakaway tour. She continued to put on big tours from 2005 through 2010 at the rate of about one or two a year. While her tours never reached the box office success of a Taylor Swift or Miley Cyrus, they did add $10 to $20 million each to the Kelly Clarkson net worth total. Continued concerts, endorsement deals, sales of merchandise and YouTube ad revenue have continued to increase the star’s net worth consistently since then.

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth Sources: Albums, Concerts, Merchandise

Kelly Clarkson net worth sourcesThe table below shows the breakdown of the Kelly Clarkson net worth pie. Concerts are by far the biggest contributor with $129 million earned. That comes from digging into each of Clarkson’s tours, the number of shows, the size of the venues and the average concert ticket price. Concerts in fact make up 71% of the singer’s earnings. That’s a big high but not shocking, since most big name singers do make most of their money these days from concert ticket sales. Traditional music sales have dwindled shockingly in the past decade as fans turn to alternative sources like YouTube, iTunes and Spotify for streaming rather than buying CDs. Another 11% of Clarkson’s net worth or $19 million comes from sales of merchandise like hats, t-shirts and iPhone cases. Only 8% or $14 million comes from actual album sales, with singles kicking in only 1% or about $2.6 million. Endorsements and YouTube pump in $15 million more (9%). Clarkson’s acting income makes a negligible addition to her net worth.

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth Sources
Concerts$129,263,750
Merchandise Sales$19,389,563
Albums$13,805,297
Endorsements$9,000,000
YouTube$6,987,280
Singles$2,625,112
Appearances$2,000,000
Acting$102,322
Total Kelly Clarkson Earnings$183,173,325
Kelly Clarkson Salary (average)$12,211,555
Kelly Clarkson Salary 2016$1,181,510
Taxes-$90,396,036
Expenses-$27,475,999
Kelly Clarkson Net Worth$83,549,965

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth from Album Sales

Kelly Clarkson net worth from albumsThe slice of the Kelly Clarkson net worth pie that comes from album sales is visible in the table below. Clarkson has released seven studio albums. The first was 2003’s Thankful, which came out of her spectacular American Idol win. That album sold went double Platinum and sold an estimated 2.3 million copies worldwide. While it earned Clarkson an impressive $2.2 million, her biggest success was still ahead of her. Her 2004 album Breakaway was aptly named. It sold 6.8 million copies, taking in $75 million in total sales. By most estimates, Clarkson would have added about $6.6 million of that money to her net worth before taxes. Other Clarkson albums since 2005 haven’t done quite as well, but that doesn’t stop their sales from turning heads. Her albums My December, Stronger and Wrapped in Red in 2007 through 2012 all sold well over a million copies each. The most recent Kelly Clarkson album, Piece by Piece in 2015 sold 570,000 copies. That’s still an RIAA gold certification and still impressive by any measure.

Singles sales add in another $2.6 million to Kelly Clarkson’s net worth. Clarkson released 32 singles. 11 of those were RIAA certified either Gold, Platinum or multiple platinum. Clarkson’s biggest single Stronger sold 4.5 million copies. Since singles are so much cheaper than albums, it still netted Clarkson only $362,000 after all costs are accounted for.

On May 21, Clarkson shared the popular YouTube video below. For a peek at how much money people make from YouTube, check out our post How Much Do the Top Ten Youtubers Make?

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth from Albums
Kelly Clarkson AlbumsUnit Sales (U.S.)Revenue at $10.99 EachKelly Clarkson Earnings at 8.85%
Thankful (2003)2,280,000$25,057,200$2,217,562
Breakaway (2004)6,840,000$75,171,600$6,652,687
My December (2007)1,140,000$12,528,600$1,108,781
All I Ever Wanted (2009)114,000$1,252,860$110,878
Stronger (2011)1,140,000$12,528,600$1,108,781
Wrapped in Red (2013)1,140,000$12,528,600$1,108,781
Piece by Piece (2015)570,000$6,264,300$554,391
Other Albums (extended plays, compilation albums, box sets)970,000$10,660,300$943,437
Total Kelly Clarkson Net Worth from Albums$13,805,297

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth from Concerts

Most estimates of the Kelly Clarkson net worth total place her concert earnings at far less than $100 million. Our deep analysis tells a different story. Clarkson has put on no less than 12 concert tours since the American Idols Live tour in 2002. The table below shows Clarkson’s estimated take from each tour based on whether she was headlining and how many other artists she had to share the stage with. The total revenue for each tour comes from the number of shows per tour, plus the average size of each venue, cut down some under the assumption every show was not sold out. The end result is a massive net of $129 million for Clarkson, added straight to her financial worth after all costs are taken out. A big part of the impressive size of that number is the number of tours put on by Clarkson. From 2002 through 2015 she averaged almost a tour a year. Most artists we’ve looked at don’t keep that pace up for very long. Doing it for a decade and a half is eye-opening.

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth from Concerts
Kelly Clarkson Concert Tour NameRevenues @ $50 per ticketKelly Clarkson %Kelly Clarkson Earnings
American Idols LIVE! Tour (2002)$8,100,00014%$1,147,500
Independent Tour (2004)$14,400,00043%$6,120,000
Breakaway Tour (2005)$27,200,00085%$23,120,000
Hazel Eyes Tour (2005)$19,600,00085%$16,660,000
Addicted Tour (2006)$25,000,00085%$21,250,000
My December Tour (2007-2008)$13,250,00085%$11,262,500
2 Worlds 2 Voices Tour (2008)$15,600,00043%$6,630,000
All I Ever Wanted Tour (2009-2010)$15,750,00085%$13,387,500
Stronger Tour (2012)$17,100,00085%$14,535,000
Kelly Clarkson/The Fray Tour (2012)$10,500,00043%$4,462,500
12th Annual Honda Civic Tour (2013)$11,900,00021%$2,528,750
Piece by Piece Tour (2015)$9,600,00085%$8,160,000
Total Kelly Clarkson Net Worth from Concerts$129,263,750

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth from Endorsements, Merchandise and YouTube

Endorsements and Kelly Clarkson net worthThe Kelly Clark net worth story owes a significant debt to merchandise, endorsements and YouTube sales. The table below shows the singer’s YouTube net. Analysts place YouTube earnings for big stars like Clarkson at about $7.60 per 1,000 views. Since Clarkson’s Vevo channel has almost a billion views, she’s taken in about $6.4 million from YouTube. Merchandise earnings for Clarkson are figured at about 15% of all concert revenue and come to $19 million over the course of her career. That’s based on the idea that for every dollar Clarkson made from ticket revenue, she earned another 15 cents from people buying hats, t-shirts and other merchandise. Endorsements chip in an estimated $9 million to the Clarkson net worth tank. Clarkson has had past deals with Proactiv, Ford, VitaminWater, NASCAR, Toyota, Pepsi, Amazon, Citizen and Apple. All together, non-music sources pump up the Kelly Clarkson net worth math by $36 million. Acting makes a minimal addition to the pie, chipping in only an estimated $100,000 from a few TV series and small movie parts.

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth from Youtube
Kelly Clarkson ChannelViewsEarnings at $7.60 per 1,000Kelly Clarkson Earnings
Kelly Clarkson Vevo (85% cut)1,029,903,504$7,827,267$6,653,177
Kelly Clarkson Own Channel43,960,972$334,103$334,103
Total Kelly Clarkson Net Worth from YouTube$6,987,280

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth Calculations

Kelly Clarkson net worth calculationsAll of us would be worth a lot more if net worth was the same as earnings. Since it’s not, the Kelly Clarkson net worth calculations have to include taxes, investments and expenses. Figuring Clarkson’s taxes is relatively easy. Clarkson lives in Tennessee. That, plus her high income, gives her the state’s highest tax rate of 9.75%. Coupled with the highest U.S. federal, rate, Clarkson pays 49.35% of everything she earns in taxes. That’s not exact because of other considerations like deductions, but it’s close enough for estimating her net worth. Expenses are a bit trickier because Clarkson doesn’t publish her exact expense layouts, but we can estimate she spends about 15% of what she makes for cost of living, agent fees and concert production. By the above math, Clarkson has paid over $90 million in taxes in her lifetime so far and $65 million in expenses. That’s a total drain of $155 million on her finances. Investments figured at a conservative 6% per year add $18 million to the Kelly Clarkson net worth total.

Kelly Clarkson Net Worth Calculations
YearTotal Kelly Clarkson EarningsAdjustments for Taxes, Expenses, InvestmentsKelly Clarkson Net Worth
2002$1,583,702-$1,019,112$564,590
2003$2,513,454-$1,600,250$1,477,794
2004$14,125,744-$9,045,006$6,558,532
2005$46,295,644-$29,591,933$23,262,243
2006$25,713,912-$15,839,963$33,136,192
2007$10,866,130-$5,985,346$38,016,976
2008$14,286,105-$8,037,773$44,265,309
2009$9,826,005-$4,977,812$49,113,502
2010$9,078,103-$4,349,200$53,842,405
2011$3,164,208-$399,897$56,606,716
2012$24,779,079-$14,225,059$67,160,736
2013$6,227,846-$1,966,604$71,421,978
2014$2,206,002$750,952$74,378,931
2015$11,325,881-$5,027,828$80,676,983
2016$1,181,510$1,691,472$83,549,965
Kelly Clarkson Net Worth Totals$183,173,325-$99,623,359

Like reading about the net worth of celebrities? Check out how a much bigger star racks up cash in our Miley Cyrus net worth article, or take a peek at our post on Taylor Swift’s net worth.

All Kelly Clarkson net worth data in this article are based on an analysis of all income streams, estimates and media reports. They’re provided here for entertainment purposes only.