Rod Wave’s net worth is estimated to be around $5 million, money he made as a rapper, singer, and songwriter. The 24 year-old Rod Wave from St. Petersburg, Florida, is recognized as a trailblazer of soul-trap – the incorporation of hip-hop and R&B.
Rod Wave, who won the Billboard Music Award for Top New Artist in 2021, has so far released four studio albums; Ghetto Gospel (2019), Pray 4 Love (2020), SoulFly (2021), and Beautiful Mind (2022). He has also been on a musical tour and released other Extended Plays that have contributed to his bottom line.
Music is the Major Source of Rod Wave’s Net Worth of $5 Million
Rod Wave makes hundreds of thousands of dollars each year and has an estimated net worth of $5 million. The strong-voiced music artist has his music career to thank for the wealth he has accumulated. His net worth has been on a steady rise ever since he stepped into the scene in 2016, as he was previously said to be worth $3 million in the late 2010s but is now worth much more than that.
Wave began his music in 2016 when he released his first-ever musical project, the Hunger Games Vol. 1 mixtape. Influenced by the likes of E-40, Chingy, Boosie Badazz, Chief Keef, Kanye West, and Kevin Gates, he would go on to release many more mixtapes as the legends before him had previously done. He would later land a recording contract with Alamo Records.
Wave gained a new level of fame in 2019 when he released the mixtape PTSD. The body of work included the song “Heart on Ice,” which went viral on YouTube and TikTok. The song further made it onto the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 25.
Riding on the wave of his “Heart on Ice” song, Rod Wave released his debut album titled Ghetto Gospel on November 1, 2019. The album peaked at number 10 on the US Billboard 200. Its most notable song was “Cuban Links” with Kevin Gates, which peaked at number 92 on the charts.
On April 3, 2020, Wave put out his second album titled Pray 4 Love which debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200. The album had several songs that made the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including “s” with ATR Son Son which peaked at number 12 and became his highest-charting song.
Wave’s success did not go unnoticed by music industry insiders, as he was subsequently included on XXL’s 2020 Freshman Class list. He followed up the recognition in 2021 with the release of his third album titled SoulFly, which featured tracks like “Street Runner” and “Tombstone” that peaked at number 11 on the Hot 100. In 2022, he released Beautiful Mind, his fourth album that was supported by the singles “By Your Side”, “Cold December”, “Stone Rolling”, and “Alone”.
Breakdown of Rod Wave’s Net Worth Sources
Streaming
The exact numbers of what the early projects (mixtapes) by Rod Wave sold or streamed are not known. However, the song “Heart on Ice” from the 2019 mixtape PTSD which went viral and put him on the map, has so far garnered about 200 million views on YouTube.
The video-sharing platform is known to pay content creators depending on the number of views their content has generated. Many of Wave’s videos on YouTube have been viewed millions of times, and this would undoubtedly contribute to his wealth. His music can further be found on other music streaming platforms like Spotify, which is known to pay artists.
Music Sales
Rod Wave signed a record deal in 2019 with Alamo Records. While we do not know how much he made off the deal, it is believed to have been well enough to get his music career going.
Following the release of his official albums, Wave has done impressive numbers when it comes to sales. It is definitely impressive for a new artist who is pioneering a different sound. His first album, Ghetto Gospel, released in 2019, is reported to have sold 1,000,000 copies to be certified Platinum. The song “Cuban Links” with Kevin Gates from the album has garnered almost 150 million views on YouTube.
Rod Wave’s second and third albums, Pray 4 Love and SoulFly, have also been certified Platinum, with the former selling 1,000,000 copies and the latter selling 1,204,000 copies.
Tours
The wealth of a majority of artists comes from touring. By doing this, they get to perform in different arenas across the state, region, or country and make a pretty penny. For those that go on world tours and are able to sell out stadiums and arenas in various countries across the globe, the revenue they get from doing so is even bigger, as some major mainstream artists like Beyonce, Jay Z, Justin Beiber, Rihanna, etc. make hundreds of millions of dollars from embarking on a world tour.
Rod Wave isn’t quite up to those standards yet, but he has embarked on a number of tours that have added to his bottom line. In 2022, following the release of the Beautiful Mind album, the rapper announced that he was heading out on a tour of the United States. The tour, which lasted for close to two months, began on November 11, 2022, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and ended in Seattle, Washington, on December 21, 2022.
Wave went from city to city every one to three days to promote himself and his music. He was accompanied by two other upcoming artists – Toosi and Mariah the Scientist, who opened for him throughout the tour. He made good money at the end of it all.
