That level of success is a relatively new reality for the 34-year-old musician, producer and fashion entrepreneur, who was labeled a “cult” artist early in his career due to the small, rabid fanbase he developed just outside hip-hop’s mainstream. After selling an estimated $175 million in tickets to more than 90 sold-out arenas in North America, Europe and Asia on his tours before his end of 2024 Chromacopy album over the past year, Tyler became one of the biggest artists in the world. He released an additional mixtape halfway through the tour, Do not tap the glasswhich claimed its own No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts. Now both albums have been nominated for this Sunday’s Grammy Awards –Do not tap the glass for Best Alternative Music Album and Chromacopy for Best Rap Album and, for the first time in his career, Album of the Year. And last November, Apple Music named him Artist of the Year.
Just because of his music Forbes estimates that Tyler earned $53 million (excluding taxes and fees) in 2025, putting him at number 13 on the list of the highest-paid musicians in the world. And that doesn’t count his other entrepreneurial ventures, including the clothing brand Golf Wang and his music festival Camp Flog Gnaw, or his supporting role in the Timothée Chalamet-led film. Marty Supremewhich was recently nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Just as Tyler has outgrown the “cult” label, so has the entire music industry. Every artist is now trying to create viral moments and personal connections with their fans. Whether it’s Beyoncé releasing a surprise album or Taylor Swift planting Easter eggs in her lyrics, now even the biggest artists are trying to build a fan base with cult-like zeal.
“When the term was first used, it described people who were really doing something different,” says Dan Runcie, founder of the hip-hop-focused research group Trapital. “Now it has become a table stake for everyone.”
Runcie says Tyler’s career follows a blueprint of what he calls “the OutKast edge” — named after 1990s hip-hop duo André 3000 and Big Boi, who built a huge (and fiercely loyal) fanbase through their embrace of high fashion, Afrofuturism and, of course, their music. Tyler has similarly created content for like-minded outsiders, built an audience on independent platforms and played the long game instead of chasing quick wins, his efforts using the social media tools that OutKast never had.
Those skills have been evident since his teenage years as the unofficial leader of Odd Future (short for Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Em All), a Los Angeles-based hip-hop collective formed in 2007 and whose first members included Frank Ocean, Earl Sweatshirt and The Bear star Lionel Boyce. In addition to music, the group launched a prank show called Loiter squadproduced by the company behind it Fool. The shock comedy and groundbreaking lyrics made Odd Future controversial (including at times bans from touring in Britain, Australia and New Zealand), but also gave it underground appeal to younger fanbases on emerging platforms like MySpace, Facebook and Tumblr.
Tyler brought the same provocative, chaotic self-expression to his solo career with the mixtape in 2009 Hybridand then broke into Billboard’s top five with his studio albums Goblin (2011), Wolf (2013) Cherry bomb (2015) and Flower boy (2017). He eventually reached No. 1 with 2019’s Igorand the following year, at the age of 28, he was recognized Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Music Category. In addition to writing, arranging and producing almost all of his music, Tyler creates a distinct visual style and wardrobe for each album – what would now be called “eras” in a post-Eras Tour world – featuring everything from pastel rugby shirts to colorful Ushanka fur hats to a blonde bob wig.
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
That creative and entrepreneurial spirit led to the launch of Golf Wang (an anagram of Wolf Gang) in 2011, at just 20 years old. The clothing company sells premium-priced streetwear inspired by Tyler’s own loud fashion, partners with brands like Converse, Lacoste, Louis Vuitton and non-apparel brands including Jeni’s Ice Cream, Arizona Green Tea and Super73 e-bikes, and often sells its products in exclusive, limited-time offers that capitalize on the internet’s collective FOMO. The company has never released financial figures, although in a 2019 freestyle Tyler bragged“When they talk about M’s, Golf 17 did m–f– in ’18 and that’s just one season.”
In the fall of 2012, he was one of the first artists to host his own live event, bringing together approximately 2,000 fans for the inaugural “OFWGKTA Carnival” (named after the abbreviation of Odd Future’s full name) in the parking lot of a small venue in downtown Los Angeles. Over time, the event evolved into the Camp Flog Gnaw Festival (the name spells Golf Wang backwards), which sold out Dodger Stadium for two consecutive days in 2025. Forbes According to estimates, last year’s event generated more than $25 million in ticket sales and sold millions more in merchandise. The Los Angeles Times reported that some festival goers purchased $600 to $750 worth of clothing each.
But no matter how popular and mainstream Tyler becomes, his fans have retained their outsider mentality. When Drake appeared as a surprise guest at Camp Flog Gnaw in 2019, then arguably the biggest musician in the world, fans chased him off stage after convincing each other online that the surprise would be ex-Odd Future member Frank Ocean.
“That always struck me because, okay, he attracts a diverse fan base,” says Runcie. “And that explains why his festival lives on in a time when many festivals didn’t make it after the pandemic, or artists tried and it didn’t quite work.”
From the stage at this year’s festival, Tyler took a moment from his performance to acknowledge that it is the loyalty of those same fans that has pushed him to his new heights. “I’ve had such a super busy, super transition year, super crazy great year,” he said to the crowd. “And it really all comes down to you n——s who have supported me since day one – I appreciate you all.”
More from Forbes
#Tyler #Creators #careerdefining #year