The Boss is now a billionaire – at least according to Forbes.
Bruce Springsteen, the New Jersey-bred musician who became rock ’n’ roll’s voice of the working class, now has an estimated net worth of $1.1bn, according to a “conservative” estimate by the magazine.
Much of that fortune has accumulated in the last few years. In 2021, Springsteen sold his entire music catalogue – one of the most admired bodies of work in pop and rock, with over 300 songs spanning 20 studio albums and extra releases – to Sony for a reported $500-550m. The deal was the largest ever for a musical catalog, dwarfing the previous record of $300m paid by Universal for Bob Dylan’s catalogue in December 2020.
At 74, the musician is still putting on large, lucrative tours; Pollstar reported that in 2023, Springsteen sold more than 1.6m concert tickets, generating $380m in revenue.
Born and raised working class on the Jersey shore, Springsteen is one of his generation’s most revered songwriters and performers, narrativizing the trials of the everyday man and playing marathon concerts. From his 1973 debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ onwards, he became among the bestselling musical artists of all time, with more than 71m albums sold in the US and 140m worldwide. His commercial hits include Born To Run, Thunder Road, I’m on Fire, and Dancing in the Dark.
Springsteen has won 20 Grammy awards, an Oscar (for best original song in 1994, for Streets of Philadelphia from the film Philadelphia), and a special Tony Award for Springsteen on Broadway, his stripped-back one-man show. In March of this year, he became the first foreigner to be inducted as a fellow of the UK’s Ivors Academy, for his “impact on the UK’s cultural landscape”.
Highlights from his discography include his 1975 breakthrough Born to Run; the literary songwriting of his first US No 1, The River in 1980; and the chart-aiming pop – and ironic patriotism – of 1984’s Born in the USA, which went 15 times platinum in the US. His songs have also provided hits for other artists, such as Patti Smith’s Because the Night, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s Blinded By the Light, and the Pointer Sisters’ Fire.
Along with his E Street Band, Springsteen is still touring to critical acclaim – the Guardian’s Kitty Empire, writing of his first UK tour in seven years in June 2023, called Springsteen’s show “tremendously Boss-like”.
“Springsteen doesn’t so much seize this rare scorcher of a day in Scotland as grab it by the lapels and shout in its face, wipe its tears, then give it a kiss,” she added.
