Dr. Dre — The $3 Billion Producer

As a producer, Dre created the G-funk sound (The Chronic), launched Eminem (The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP), made 50 Cent a star (Get Rich or Die Tryin'), and produced Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city. Total record sales of artists he produced: 500+ million. But the $3 billion Beats by Dre sale to Apple dwarfs all of it. His ear for sound — the bass, the piano riffs, the minimalist West Coast knock — defined hip-hop for three decades. He made more money from headphones than from producing the most influential rapper in history.