Dr Dre beats Beyonce to top Forbes highest-paid musicians of 2014 list

The rapper has raked in a massive $620 million in the past 12 months

Dr Dre has topped Forbes' highest paid musicians in the world list for 2014 (Getty Images)

Dr Dre has been announced as the highest-paid musician of 2014, thanks primarily to his best-selling Beats headphones.

The hip-hop star racked up $620 million (£395m) this year before tax - the biggest sum of any musician in history over 12 months, according to Forbes.

Dre, real name Andre Young, earned far more than the big name likes of Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift following the $3 billion sale of his co-founded business to Apple in May.

Founded in 2003, Beats made bright, bulky headphones cool again and soon became music lovers’ go-to brand for personal listening.

Beyoncé follows Dre in second place on Forbes’ list but falls behind him with $115 million. The pop singer earned her money from her ‘surprise’ album, Mrs Carter Show tour and deals with H&M and Pepsi.

“Hotel California” rockers The Eagles came third, having earned $100 million so far this year from their History of the Eagles world tour.

Fellow music veterans Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen completed the top five after raking in $82 million and $81 million respectively.

Also making appearances on the envy-inducing list are One Direction, Paul McCartney, Katy Perry, Jay Z, Bruno Mars and the world’s highest-paid DJ, Calvin Harris.

Harris earned $66 million in 2014 to achieve the highest single year sum of any DJ ever, Forbes confirmed.

“The rise of dance music has been astronomical in the last three years,” he said. “I happened to be in the right place at the right time.”