Almost overnight, Megan Thee Stallion has become one of the biggest names in the hip-hop world. In the past year alone, she’s earned spots on the charts with singles like “Body” and “WAP” (with Cardi B.)
But Megan, whose rap moniker is an unapologetic celebration of herself (“I’m from Texas, and in Texas, guys call girls that are thick, fine, and tall stallions,” she told GQ), is determined to be more than a flash in the pan. She knew she wanted to rap since age 7, and she’s proven herself by working her way from small basement clubs to the stage at the 2021 Grammys.
With 25.2 million followers on Instagram and 6.8 million followers on Twitter, we don’t think she’s going to disappear anytime soon. It makes us wonder how handsomely her success had paid off in dollars and cents. Take a look at the rapper’s career to date, and find out Megan Thee Stallion’s net worth.
It’s true that Megan had dreamed of a rap career since childhood, but mainstream name recognition came practically overnight. She generated some buzz early in her career with SoundCloud releases, mixtapes, and EPs, but she’s only had one studio album to date—2020’s Good News.
That hasn’t stopped established artists from lining up to record singles with her. Megan’s diverse list of collaborators includes rappers (Nicki Minaj, DaBaby, Young Thug), EDM stars (Marshmello), and even K-Pop boy bands (BTS).
Megan herself is admittedly awestruck by some of the recent opportunities she’d had. “I got a call one day and they were like, ‘Yeah… Beyonce’s gonna do a remix of Savage,’” she told Variety. “I was like, ‘Shut the f— up.!’ I didn’t believe it.”
But Megan has proven she can go places without the help of Queen Bey. In only two years, she has racked up an American Music Award, six BET Awards, a Billboard Music Award, and three Grammys (just to name a few accolades).
The “Hot Girl Summer” rapper also has major brands banging at her door. In 2019, she announced endorsement deals with Coach and Puma. And shortly after appearing in a 2020 campaign for Savage x Fenty, she was appointed Revlon’s new global brand ambassador. She also has a collection with the fast-fashion brand Fashion Nova.
“Every day, [my team] tell[s] me, ‘Megan you’re doing a good job,’” she told the Associated Press in 2019. “I’m like ‘Thank you,’ but I gotta work harder. I know I’m not where I want to be yet, so I’m still trying to grind.”
Given Megan’s rapid ascent, you would think that she is flush with cash. The truth is that the young rapper has had an unfortunate crash course in business over the last year and a half.
In March 2020, Megan filed a lawsuit against her record label, 1501 Certified Entertainment. Her laundry list of demands included permission to release her EP Suga, $1 million, and termination of her contract.
According to Pitchfork, she claimed that the label “engaged in fraud, breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, and other violations of civil law.” Her attorney, Richard Busch, argued that Megan was “young and naive” when she signed with the label in 2018. He added that they “took complete advantage of her and fraudulently induced her to enter into the contract.”
A copy of that contract revealed that the label was entitled to 60 percent of her recording profits, leaving her with 40 percent—this was a deviation from the industry standard (a 50-50 split). The suit further claims that she was only left with 26 percent after the label’s distributor helped itself to an additional fee.
Other deals that favored the label over the artist include a 60-40 split on recording royalties split and a 70-30 split on touring income.
International Business Times also revealed that she received a meager $10,000 signing bonus when she signed to the label.
“It’s a whole lie,” 1501’s CEO Carl Crawford told Billboard. “Nothing is true that she said. Me being greedy and taking money from her, that’s crazy. I never tried to take anything from her. The only thing we ever did was give, give, give.”
Crawford asked that a temporary restraining order filed by Megan be dissolved, but a court judge denied the request.
“I will stand up for myself and won’t allow two men to bully me, I am NO ONE’s PROPERTY,” she wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post.
By August 2021, Megan was embroiled in another legal dispute with 1501 and Crawford—this time for permission to release a remix of the BTS single “Butter.”
“If [Megan] is not allowed to release a new track this Friday on which she is the featured artist in a remix with BTS of the song called, ‘Butter,’ her music career will suffer irreparable damage, including a devastating impact to her relationships with her fans and with other recording artists in the music industry,” read court documents filed in Harris County, Texas.
“Such irreparable injury to her personal goodwill and the silencing of her artistic expression in music cannot be compensated in the way of monetary damages,” the filing continues. “As such, [she] seeks emergency relief from this Court.”