- Forbes named Kanye West the fourth-richest rapper in the world on Thursday.
- This marks the first time that West has made it into Forbes' yearly ranking.
- The "Ye" rapper even surpassed Drake, whose fortune grew 50% over the past year.
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Forbes named Kanye West the fourth-richest rapper in the world on Thursday, marking the first time that he's made it into the yearly ranking.
According to Forbes, West's $240 million fortune is largely thanks to his partnership with Adidas, which produces and promotes the rapper's Yeezy clothing line.
"Our accounting of West's wealth is almost entirely predicated on a conservative estimate of that brand's value," Forbes writes. "As it continues to scale up, he could one day join his sister-in-law, Kylie Jenner, as a billionaire."
Read more: Every member of the Kardashian-Jenner family, ranked by net worth
Of course, in addition to his fashion ventures, West has released nine studio albums — eight of which hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart — and produced countless albums and tracks for other artists. He has won 21 Grammys and is often cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Notably, West's debut on the richest rappers list had him ranked higher than Drake, who landed in fifth place — even though Forbes reports that Drake's fortune grew 50% over the past year.
According to Forbes, Drake is worth $150 million.
The three rappers who ranked higher than West are Diddy, Dr. Dre, and Jay-Z with $740 million, $800 million, and $1 billion, respectively.