Dr Dre - Dr Dre Tops Forbes Cash Kings List Thanks To Headphones Success

That's right, whilst Dr Dre's Detox album sits gathering dust waiting for release, the 47 year-old has been earning his money through sales of his Beats By Dre headphones, which retail for upwards of $100. Teaming up with Interscope Records boss Jimmy Iovine in 2008, Dr Dre hit the jackpot when Htc paid $300 million for a 51% stake in the company, meaning that Dre walked away with a cool $100 million pre-tax from the deal. That became the bulk of the $110 million that has put Dre over $65 million ahead of Diddy in the Cash King list, with Jay Z languishing in third with a mere "$38 million".

Dre's strategy has been nothing if not aggressive; he was one of the few commercial companies who managed to make it past the Olympics strict advertising regulations during the recent games held in London. Dre supplied athletes with headphone so that they could wear them whilst warming up for their events. The story that he'd managed to do this became as big a help to the product as did the plain site of seeing the athletes donning them. Props to you Dre, but please give us some music soon.