TikTok creators are racking up millions of dollars according to an article published by Forbes earlier this week.
Addison Sterling Rae, one of the queens of TikTok is the highest paid creator on the platform making an estimated $5 million dollars last year alone. Her earnings comes from massive endorsements and partnerships. She’s the face of American Eagle, cut a massive podcast deal with Spotify and started her makeup collection called ITEM Beauty with startup Madeby Collective.
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The 19-year old Louisiana native recently reflected on what her life would be like if she had not gained the recognition she did on TikTok. She would be a Sophomore at LSU working towards a broadcast journalism degree and not being best friends with Kourtney Kardashian.
Next on the list were none other than the D’Amelio sisters. The most followed creator on the platform, 16- year old Charli D’Amelio earned an estimated 4.8 million dollars in 2019. After posting on TikTok for the first time the summer of 2019, she had multiple dance videos go viral last summer and fall.
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Her mass success opened up the door to huge endorsements and appearances. She’s danced with Bebe Rexha and Jennifer Lopez. D’Amelio has appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and a Super Bowl commercial for Sabra hummus. The Connecticut native, has also racked up major sponsorships with Prada, EOS cosmetics. She was just announced as the face of Hollister alongside her sister Dixie.
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Third on the list is the other half of the D’Amelio social media emporium, Dixie. The 18 year old earned 2.8 million dollars in 2019, thanks to her 33.3 million followers, her music ventures and joint deals with Morphe and Hollister. Dixie first single, “Be Happy” which was released in June has accumulated 58 million streams. The music video became the No. 1 trending video on YouTube the day of the release, beating out Kayne West/ Travis Scott music video also released that same day. She just announced a record deal with L.A Reid’s label HitCo joining Jennifer Lopez along side other top tier performers.
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Fourth on the list is doing it solo after being taken advantage of by various industry professionals. Loren Gray earned 2 million dollars from her music and according to Forbes “sponcon deals” with Skechers, Hyundai and Burger King. Aside from her record deal with Virgin Records, her focus has been on her Revlon deal, creating content for the company’s TikTok account and Revlon-sponsored posts for hers.
Josh Richards earned 1.5 million dollars in 2019. Aside from his Warner Music Record Deal and traditional earnings coming from sponsorship deals with Reebok, HouseParty, his merch line and YouTube ad revenue, the 18- year old has also gotten into investments. Richards recently joined TikTok’s rival Triller as their chief strategy officer, a deal that compensated him with an equity stake in the startup. He also started his own management company, Talent X, and his own energy drink business, Ani- Energy.
His entrepreneurial mindset and strategic thinking made him one of the top paid creators.
I want to thank @warnerrecords for taking a chance on me. Thank you Aaron Bay-Schuck for believing in me and the company I cofounded. Really excited to get this going! https://t.co/0uLt2IxW3E
— Josh (@JoshRichards) July 23, 2020
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According to Forbes, their list focuses on stars native to TikTok and does not take into consideration top celebrities. They rank creators by speaking with their agents, managers, marketers, investors and the creators themselves. They take into account their earnings from June 30, 2019, through June 30, 2020 to make their placements.
