Lady Gaga’s net worth is $225 million. The Lady Gaga net worth fortune comes mostly from concert tours, music sales, endorsements, YouTube and investment income. We also figured estimated taxes and expenses into our Lady Gaga net worth total.
Lady Gaga has earned a total of $607 million in her lifetime. Subtracting from the Lady Gaga net worth sum are about $294 million in taxes and $121 million in expenses.
Lady Gaga Net Worth Facts
Lady Gaga Net Worth Facts | |
|---|---|
| Lady Gaga Net Worth: | $225,184,993 |
| Lady Gaga net worth vs Katy Perry net worth: | 1.8 times larger |
| Lady Gaga net worth vs Beyonce net worth: | 1.6 times smaller |
| Lady Gaga net worth vs Rihanna net worth: | 1.2 times smaller |
| Lady Gaga net worth vs Taylor Swift net worth: | About the same |
| Lady Gaga net worth vs Nicki Minaj net worth: | 3.5 times larger |
| Lady Gaga net worth vs Selena Gomez net worth: | 5 times larger |
| Lady Gaga net worth vs Dr. Dre net worth: | 3.3 times smaller |
| Lady Gaga net worth vs typical American household net worth: | 3,403 times bigger |
| Lady Gaga net worth vs Barack Obama net worth: | 72 times bigger |
Lady Gaga’s net worth of $224 million is almost twice as large as Katy Perry’s $126 million dollar net worth. Beyonce’s net worth of $372 million is 1.6 times larger than Lady Gaga’s net worth. Lady Gaga’s net worth is about 20% smaller than Rihanna’s net worth of $281 million and 10% smaller than Taylor Swift’s net worth of $251 million.
Nicki Minaj has 3.5 times less worth than Lady Gaga with $65 million. Selena Gomez’s net worth of $45 million is 5 times smaller than Lady Gaga’s net worth. Dr. Dre is worth $756 million. That’s 3 times more than Lady Gaga. Leaving musicians behind, Lady Gaga’s net worth is 72 times larger than Barack Obama’s net worth of $3.2 million. What about the typical American? Lady Gaga has 3,403 times the media American household’s net worth of $68,000.
Lady Gaga Net Worth Through Time
The table below shows the growth of Lady Gaga’s net worth through time. Gaga’s net worth started out at $9 million in 2008. By 2016 it has grown to a staggering $224 million after tax.
Lady Gaga Net Worth Timeline | |
|---|---|
| Lady Gaga Net Worth 2008 | $9,029,845 |
| Lady Gaga Net Worth 2009 | $89,089,677 |
| Lady Gaga Net Worth 2010 | $95,484,766 |
| Lady Gaga Net Worth 2011 | $105,349,125 |
| Lady Gaga Net Worth 2012 | $165,862,596 |
| Lady Gaga Net Worth 2013 | $175,358,794 |
| Lady Gaga Net Worth 2014 | $208,908,672 |
| Lady Gaga Net Worth 2015 | $218,425,171 |
| Lady Gaga Net Worth 2016 | $225,184,993 |
Lady Gaga Net Worth Timeline
How has Lady Gaga’s net worth grown over time? Since 2008, when Lady Gaga released her first hit album The Fame, the star’s net worth has grown from $0 all the way to $224 million. She was just 22 years old when that album earned her $18 million and launched her career like a railgun shell.
The chart above shows how Lady Gaga’s net worth has grown over time. The three big jumps in the graph represent big earnings from her concert tours.
Also see: Katy Perry Net Worth
Lady Gaga Net Worth Sources: Music Sales, Concerts, Endorsements
The table below shows where Lady Gaga’s net worth comes from. The lion’s share of the Lady Gaga net worth picture comes from concert tour earnings. Fully 71% of every dollar Lady Gaga has ever earned has come from concert tours. A distant 11% of her earnings, or $32 million, comes from estimated investment income. An approximate $48 million comes from endorsement deals. That’s just 7% of the Lady Gaga net worth total. Another 7%, or $47 million, comes from sales of albums and singles. Finally, 3% of Lady Gaga’s net worth comes from $23 million in YouTube earnings.
Lady Gaga Net Worth Sources | |
|---|---|
| Lady Gaga Album Sales | $33,207,846 |
| Lady Gaga Singles Sales | $13,831,027 |
| Lady Gaga Concert Income | $488,240,000 |
| Lady Gaga YouTube Earnings | $22,881,743 |
| Lady Gaga Endorsement Deals | $48,000,000 |
| Investment Income (est) | $33,037,258 |
| Total Lady Gaga Earnings | $606,160,616 |
| Taxes (48.42%) | $294,610,303 |
| Estimated Expenses (20%) | $121,689,510 |
| Lady Gaga Net Worth | $225,184,993 |
Concert Tours and Lady Gaga Net Worth
Lady Gaga’s concert tours are by far the biggest contributor to her net worth. The diva has earned $488 million from an impressive six concert tours in eight years. Her first tour, The Fame Ball in 2009, earned her $45 million. Her biggest earner was The Monster Ball tour, also in 2009. That tour earned Gaga $193 million. 2009’s Fame Kills tour with Kanye West was canceled immediately after West interrupted Taylor Swift’s VMA’s acceptance speech.
We have good box office estimates for how much money each tour brought in. Industry experts say top musicians keep about 85% of the revenue from concert tours. Based on those numbers, we’ve figured Gaga’s concert earnings in the table below.
Concert Tours and Lady Gaga Net Worth | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lady Gaga Concert Tour Name | Year | Box Office | Lady Gaga % | Lady Gaga Earnings |
| The Fame Ball | 2009 | $53,000,000 | 85% | $45,050,000 |
| Fame Kills (Lady Gaga and Kanye West) | 2009 | Canceled | Canceled | Canceled |
| The Monster Ball (Biggest Lady Gaga concert) | 2009 | $227,400,000 | 85% | $193,290,000 |
| The Born This Way Ball | 2012 | $202,000,000 | 85% | $171,700,000 |
| The Artpop Ball | 2014 | $83,000,000 | 85% | $70,550,000 |
| Cheek to Cheek (Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett) | 2014 | $18,000,000 | 43% | $7,650,000 |
| Total Lady Gaga Net Worth from Concert Tours | $488,240,000 |
Also see: Selena Gomez Net Worth
Music Sales and Lady Gaga Net Worth
In the years before digital downloads, sales of albums and singles made up the biggest portion of a top singer’s net worth. That’s not the case any more. Piracy and streaming have cut income from music sales considerably. That said, Lady Gaga’s net worth still benefited from $47 million in music sales. That includes $33 million from sales of albums and $14 million from singles.
Album Sales and Lady Gaga Net Worth
Lady Gaga has released four studio albums and a collection of EPs, remixes and other albums. She has sold a total of 27 million album copies. Her biggest seller was her first album, 2008’s The Fame.
Each album sold costs about $10.99. Industry estimates place a singer’s percentage of sales at about 6.6% for every song sung, plus another 4.5% for every song written. Since Gaga writes and sings her own songs, that places her earnings at 11.1% of every album sold. The other 88.9% gets eaten up by producers, distributors, manufacturers, record labels, agents and retailers. Based on those numbers, we’ve estimated the album sale portion of the Lady Gaga net worth total in the table below.
Album Sales and Lady Gaga Net Worth | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lady Gaga Album Title | Year | Units Sold | Unit Cost | Revenue | Lady Gaga % | Lady Gaga Earnings |
| The Fame (Top selling Lady Gaga album) | 2008 | 15,000,000 | $10.99 | $164,850,000 | 11.10% | $18,298,350 |
| Born This Way | 2011 | 6,000,000 | $10.99 | $65,940,000 | 11.10% | $7,319,340 |
| Artpop | 2013 | 2,500,000 | $10.99 | $27,475,000 | 11.10% | $3,049,725 |
| Cheek to Cheek (Lowest selling Lady Gaga studio album) | 2014 | 622,000 | $10.99 | $6,835,780 | 11.10% | $758,772 |
| The Remix (Lowest selling Lady Gaga album) | 2010 | 500,000 | $10.99 | $5,495,000 | 11.10% | $609,945 |
| Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball | 2011 | 2,300,000 | $10.99 | $25,277,000 | 11.10% | $2,805,747 |
| Other Lady Gaga Albums | 300,000 | $10.99 | $3,297,000 | 11.10% | $365,967 | |
| Total Lady Gaga Net Worth From Album Sales | $33,207,846 |
Also see: Taylor Swift Net Worth
Singles Sales and Lady Gaga Net Worth
Lady Gaga has released 21 hit singles and sold 62 million copies. Each copy sells for $1.99 and Lady Gaga gets 11.1% of that or about 22 cents. Doing the math gives an estimated $14 million in singles sales income adding to the Lady Gaga net worth total.
Lady Gaga’s top selling single so far is 2009’s Bad Romance with 14 million copies sold. Poker Face in 2008 is the second best selling Lady Gaga single with 10 million copies sold.
For a full list of each single and how it contributes to the Lady Gaga net worth math, see the table at the bottom of this article.
YouTube and Lady Gaga Net Worth
Another part of the Lady Gaga net worth story is $23 million in YouTube earnings. Music stars like Gaga make money by putting music videos on YouTube and then selling ad space on them. Until 2009, stars had to set up their own YouTube channels. After that, Vevo made it possible for stars to get a lot more YouTube views. Lady Gaga’s own channel, started in 2008, has 96 million views. Her Vevo channel by contrast, started in 2009, has over 3 billion views.
Experts say a block of 1,000 YouTube views pays about $7.60. Doing the math, we can see that Gaga’s YouTube channel earned $732,820, while her Vevo channel earned $26 million. Gaga keeps all the revenue from her own channel but only a percentage of her Vevo earnings. We’ve estimated the percentages below.
Lady Gaga Youtube Earnings | Views | Earnings Per 1,000 Views | Revenue | Lady Gaga % | Lady Gaga Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lady Gaga Channel | 97,364,804 | 0.0076 | $739,973 | 100% | $739,973 |
| Lady Gaga Vevo Channel | 4,135,547,250 | 0.0076 | $31,430,159 | 85% | $26,715,635 |
| Totals | $27,455,608 |
Also see: Rihanna Net Worth
Endorsement Deals and Lady Gaga Net Worth
Endorsement deals are the haziest segment of the Lady Gaga net worth picture. While we have solid estimates for concert income, music sales and YouTube earnings, that’s not so with endorsement deals. Endorsement deal dollar figures aren’t generally made public. The best anyone can do is look at published endorsement numbers from other stars and come up with reasonable estimates.
We do know Lady Gaga has entered into endorsement deals with several companies, including Polaroid, M-A-C Cosmetics, Android, Virgin Mobile, Monster Cable and Viva Glam. Gaga also has her own Fame Perfume and signed a deal with Versace. We put Lady Gaga’s endorsement earnings at a conservative $6 million per year. With an 8 year career, that gives us an estimate of $48 million in endorsement earnings to the Lady Gaga net worth total.
Lady Gaga Net Worth Calculations
Lady Gaga doesn’t release figures on how taxes, expenses and investments affect her net worth total. However, it’s not hard to estimate these amounts. We estimate Gaga has paid a career total of $334 million in taxes and $121 million in expenses. That’s based on a 39.6% federal tax bracket, NY state taxes of 8.82% and expenses at 20% of income. We also figure the star has earned $81 million in investment income, based on average returns of 6% per year on her net worth.
Lady Gaga Net Worth Calculations | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Total Lady Gaga Earnings | Lady Gaga Taxes | Lady Gaga Expenses | Investment Income | Net Worth |
| 2008 | $28,593,556 | $13,845,000 | $5,718,711 | $0 | $9,029,845 |
| 2009 | $252,629,438 | $122,323,174 | $50,525,888 | $279,456 | $89,089,677 |
| 2010 | $11,519,766 | $5,577,870 | $2,303,953 | $2,757,147 | $95,484,766 |
| 2011 | $21,878,707 | $10,593,670 | $4,375,741 | $2,955,063 | $105,349,125 |
| 2012 | $181,295,525 | $87,783,293 | $36,259,105 | $3,260,345 | $165,862,596 |
| 2013 | $13,815,967 | $6,689,691 | $2,763,193 | $5,133,116 | $175,358,794 |
| 2014 | $89,052,798 | $43,119,365 | $17,810,560 | $5,427,004 | $208,908,672 |
| 2015 | $9,661,792 | $4,678,240 | $1,932,358 | $6,465,306 | $218,425,171 |
| 2016 | $6,759,822 | $225,184,993 | |||
| Totals | $608,447,548 | $294,610,303 | $121,689,510 | $33,037,258 |
Also see: Adele Net Worth
Looking at the table above, we know Gaga is in a 39.6% tax bracket. As a resident of New York State, she pays another 8.82% in state taxes. That gives her a total tax rate of 48.42%. Applying that to her yearly earnings gives a total of $293 million in total taxes subtracting from the Lady Gaga net worth figure.
Expenses are more difficult to estimate. We know the diva pays out some amount for cost of living, agents, staff, operating costs and other costs. We’ve estimated her total expenses at 20% of annual income. That gives a total of $121 million in expenses over the course of her career subtracting from the Lady Gaga net worth total.
The final piece of our Lady Gaga net worth estimate is investment income. We know the star has some investments. We also know roughly how much stocks and bonds have earned (and lost) over the years since 2008. Starting with 2009, we’ve estimated Gaga’s investment earnings at a conservative 6% per year or $33 million.
How Accurate Are Our Lady Gaga Net Worth Figures?
In the end, our Lady Gaga net worth total is just an estimate. While we have a high degree of confidence for some figures, others we can’t be quite as sure of. We have solid data on concert income, album sales, singles sales and YouTube earnings. That means we’re fairly sure of 81% of Lady Gaga’s net worth. Taxes are also fairly easy to estimate reliably, since we know the star’s exact tax brackets.
It’s more difficult to find solid data for expenses, endorsement deals and investment income. Because of these weaknesses in our data, it’s possible Lady Gaga’s net worth is as high as $250 million or as low as $200 million. The likeliest actual number for Lady Gaga’s net worth however is our $224 million dollar estimate.
How Important is Lady Gaga’s Net Worth?
Is net worth the most important thing to Lady Gaga? Clearly not. Sometimes when a star hits a certain level of net worth, they stop trying to grow their wealth and focus instead on what they really want to do. Lady Gaga’s Cheek to Cheek tour with Tony Bennet may be an example of just that phenomenon. The Cheek to Cheek tour is Lady Gaga’s least popular and lowest earning tour. From videos of the tour, it’s clear both stars are thoroughly enjoying themselves on stage.
Is building net worth the most important thing, or does happiness matter most? It’s heartwarming in a way to see a star who really doesn’t need any more money focus on something she wants to do out of pure joy.
Lady Gaga Net Worth in the Future
Will Lady Gaga’s net worth climb? It’s hard to say. She doesn’t have a big 2016 tour scheduled and there are no new albums on the horizon. Rumors have it that if the diva does release a new album, it’ll happen in 2016 at the earliest. That means Gaga fans could wait until 2017 for the next album from the megastar.
About Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga, or Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, started building her net worth at a young age. Born in 1986, the singer started her professional career at just 19 years old, performing in Manhattan clubs and recording songs for a children’s book. Since then she has earned $488 million in concert tour income, $47 million from sales of albums and singles and $23 million from YouTube views. Also adding to the Lady Gaga net worth story are an estimated $33 million in investment income and $48 million in endorsements.
As a private citizen, Lady Gaga doesn’t have to disclose her net worth. Our Lady Gaga net worth calculations are based on data from music sales and concert box office numbers. We figured her taxes based on tax rates published by the IRS and State of New York. Other figures like endorsement deal income and investment earnings are estimates based on industry estimates.
On 1/8/16, Lady Gaga and Taylor Kinney made love on a canvas (with finger paints) for the cover of V magazine. Gaga said the lovemaking was a defiant act, in the midst of all the violence in the world today. The Gaga tweet below shows the aftermath.
Read our piece "Adult Finger Painting." How simple thoughts and gestures of love can make harmony out of chaos #V99 pic.twitter.com/sTrNCyh57o
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) January 8, 2016
How does adult finger painting add to the Lady Gaga net worth total? Anything that keeps a major star in the public mind keeps the money flowing in.
Another addition to Lady Gaga’s net worth was her Super Bowl gig. Lady Gaga sung the National Anthem for the major sporting event. The consensus was that she performed amazingly well. Check out the NFL’s video of the performance below:
Ellen went gaga for Lady Gaga on Twitter on 2/15/16. Here’s the talkshow giant’s tweet about Gaga’s Grammys performance. The ability of a star to stay in the public eye factors heavily into net worth. That’s because the more people think about Lady Gaga, the more they’ll buy her music and watch her YouTube channel.
.@ladygaga, that was so great. You're always going to another level. #GRAMMYs
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) February 16, 2016
Full List of Singles and their Lady Gaga Net Worth Contributions
Singles Sales and Lady Gaga Net Worth | Year | Units Sold | Unit Cost | Revenue | Lady Gaga % | Lady Gaga Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Just Dance (Lady Gaga debut hit) | 2008 | 9,245,000 | $1.99 | $18,397,550 | 11.10% | $2,042,128 |
| Poker Face (Huge Lady Gaga seller) | 2008 | 10,200,000 | $1.99 | $20,298,000 | 11.10% | $2,253,078 |
| Eh, Eh | 2009 | 1,000,000 | $1.99 | $1,990,000 | 11.10% | $220,890 |
| Love Game (Lady Gaga double platinum hit) | 2009 | 2,500,000 | $1.99 | $4,975,000 | 11.10% | $552,225 |
| Paparazzi | 2009 | 3,750,000 | $1.99 | $7,462,500 | 11.10% | $828,338 |
| Bad Romance (Lady Gaga top selling single) | 2009 | 14,000,000 | $1.99 | $27,860,000 | 11.10% | $3,092,460 |
| Telephone (Biggest Gaga hit of 2010) | 2010 | 3,750,000 | $1.99 | $7,462,500 | 11.10% | $828,338 |
| Alejandro | 2010 | 2,000,000 | $1.99 | $3,980,000 | 11.10% | $441,780 |
| Dance in the Dark (Lowest selling Lady Gaga single) | 2010 | 200,000 | $1.99 | $398,000 | 11.10% | $44,178 |
| Born This Way (Lady Gaga 4x platinum hit) | 2011 | 5,000,000 | $1.99 | $9,950,000 | 11.10% | $1,104,450 |
| Judas | 2011 | 750,000 | $1.99 | $1,492,500 | 11.10% | $165,668 |
| The Edge of Glory | 2011 | 1,000,000 | $1.99 | $1,990,000 | 11.10% | $220,890 |
| You and I | 2011 | 2,300,000 | $1.99 | $4,577,000 | 11.10% | $508,047 |
| The Lady is a Tramp (Lowest Gaga seller of 2011) | 2011 | 200,000 | $1.99 | $398,000 | 11.10% | $44,178 |
| Marry the Night | 2011 | 520,000 | $1.99 | $1,034,800 | 11.10% | $114,863 |
| Applause (Lady Gaga 3x platinum hit) | 2013 | 4,000,000 | $1.99 | $7,960,000 | 11.10% | $883,560 |
| Do What U Want | 2013 | 1,300,000 | $1.99 | $2,587,000 | 11.10% | $287,157 |
| G.U.Y. (Tied for last place of all Gaga singles) | 2014 | 200,000 | $1.99 | $398,000 | 11.10% | $44,178 |
| Anything Goes | 2014 | 200,000 | $1.99 | $398,000 | 11.10% | $44,178 |
| I Can't Give You Anything But Love | 2014 | 200,000 | $1.99 | $398,000 | 11.10% | $44,178 |
| Til It Happens to You (Most recent Lady Gaga single) | 2015 | 300,000 | $1.99 | $597,000 | 11.10% | $66,267 |
| Total Lady Gaga Net Worth from Singles Sales | 62,615,000 | $13,831,027 |
Sources
One last parting shot: on 5/11/16, Pop! dolls released a preview of its “Lady Gaga as the Countess” from American Horror Story doll. How much will the doll add to the Lady Gaga net worth figure? Probably not a lot.
FIRST LOOK: Lady Gaga's Pop! Doll as The Countess in American Horror Story: Hotel. pic.twitter.com/VCGwsjd7Ad
— Lady Gaga Now (@LadyGagaNowNet) May 11, 2016