Here's How Machine Gun Kelly's Net Worth Has Changed Since Switching From Rap To Pop Punk
At 31 years old, Machine Gun Kelly is skyrocketing to become one of the most popular musical artists in the business. From his hit singles to his collaborations with the likes of Travis Barker, Camila Cabello, and Halsey, Machine Gun Kelly has come a long way from throwing out diss tracks and mixtapes.
With his evolving career, Machine Gun Kelly's net worth is also rising. Despite getting his start releasing mixtapes he recorded in his home studio, the artist is now worth an estimated $10 million, between his album releases, acting career, endorsements, and sponsorships.
Here's a look at the evolution of Machine Gun Kelly's career and how it has led to the net worth he's enjoying today.
7 The Beginning
The origin story of Machine Gun Kelly, born Colson Baker, is a complicated one. Baker was born into a missionary family. They moved frequently, landing everywhere from Egypt to Germany, as well as Chicago, Cleveland, and Denver.
After his mother left the family, Baker and his father moved in with an aunt. During that time, his father struggled with depression and unemployment, leading to Baker being bullied relentlessly. To cope, he turned to rap and hip hop music, idolizing Ludacris, Eminem, and DMX.
This love of music led him to Harlem's Apollo Theater, where he would start making a name for himself. Recording in his home studio, lovingly called his "Rage Cage," Baker would find himself pulled closer to the spotlight after being featured on MTV2's Sucker Free Freestyle. He used this time to release mixtapes of his verses, though it wasn't enough to keep him from having to work in the real world. To keep a roof over his head, he worked at Chipotle after being kicked out by his father shortly after graduating high school.
It was his single "Alice in Wonderland" that would ultimately lead to his rising star. It won him Best Midwest Artist at the 2010 Underground Music Awards. Soon, he would start to see the returns on his hard work.
6 Signing With Bad Boy Records
With "Alice in Wonderland" being well-received, Baker was offered a contract with Bad Boy Records. Becoming Machine Gun Kelly, he released his debut studio album Lace Up with the lead single "Wild Boy."
The album was released in October 2012 and landed at Number 4 on the Billboard200 charts. In its first week of sales, Lace Up sold about 57,000 copies. But it didn't stop there. The album spent 58 weeks on the charts. Since September 2015, it has sold about 263,000 copies.
5 'General Admission' (2015)
Following his debut studio album Lace Up was General Admission. To promote the album, Machine Gun Kelly released a mixtape with 10 tracks titled Fuck It. Reportedly, Machine Gun Kelly was frustrated with the amount of time it was taking for Bad Boy Records to release General Admission and used Fuck It as a way to apologize to his fans. As a way of showing support, many fans took to spray painting the album title in their hometowns.
Debuting at Number 4 on Billboard200, General Admission eventually hit the Number 1 spot in November 2015. It sold 56,000 the first week. Calling the album a "mixed-bag," Marcus Dowling from HipHopDX described it as "an album that aims high and falls short, but an amazing story is told along the way."
4 'Bloom' (2017)
In May 2017, Machine Gun Kelly released his next studio album, Bloom, which featured the lead single "Bad Things." This single was a collaboration with Camila Cabello and peaked at Number 4 on the US charts. The album as a whole debuted at Number 8 on Billboard200.
Eventually peaking at Number 3 in June 2017, Bloom spent seven weeks on the charts and since 2017 has sold about 87,000 copies.
3 'Tickets To My Downfall' (2020)
While Machine Gun Kelly had started to cement a name for himself in the music scene, it was Tickets To My Downfall in 2020 that seems to have led him to more mainstream success. This was his official departure from rap, creating a more modern pop-punk style through collaborations with Blink-182's Travis Barker.
The songs from Tickets To My Downfall ended up taking half the spots on Billboard's Hot Alternative Songs chark. The album debuted at Number 1 on Billboard200 and sold 126,000 in the first week. Kerrang! praised the album, calling it, "... a slick sideways hop from what you might be expecting from Machine Gun Kelly, it's done excellently. It celebrates everything great about pop-punk without feeling cookie-cutter or third division."
Speaking about the break from the rap and hip hop scene, The Evening Standard said the album "bridg[ed] the gap" between the more traditional pop-punk style and brought to it Machine Gun Kelly's unique brand of brash lyricism. As of June 2021, Tickets To My Downfall has sold over one million units.
2 Acting
Aside from his musical career, Machine Gun Kelly has dabbled in the acting world, as well. Despite taking mostly smaller parts, these are surely contributing to the $10 million net worth the artist enjoys.
To date, he's appeared in:
- Beyond the Lights
- The King of Staten Island
- Nerve
- Bird Box
- The Dirt
- Midnight in the Switchgrass
1 Endorsements and Sponsorships
Finally, the artist has also teamed up with companies for endorsement and sponsorship deals. Two of the most lucrative have been Reebok and Young & Reckless. With Reebok, the artist has endorsed their Club C sneakers. He's also created his own line of merchandise, which features a t-shirt that many seemed to relate to after the last year and a half, labeled: "Hello World You Fucking Suck."
Whether you love him or hate him, Machine Gun Kelly seems to be one to watch. He recently announced another new album, titled Born With Horns, which is promising more collaboration with Travis Barker and we can expect more of that modern pop-punk vibe he's embracing.
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